r 


1 


MEMOIR 

OF 

GEORGE    LIVER  MOEE. 


PREPARED  AGREEABLY  TO  A  RESOLUTION 


MASSACHUSETTS    HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


By    CHARLES  DEANE. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

PRESS  OF  JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 

1869. 


MEMOIR 

OF 

GEOEGE  LIYEEMOEE. 


George  Livermore,  the  son  of  Deacon  Nathaniel  and  Eliza- 
beth (Gleason)  Livermore,  was  born  in  that  part  of  Cambridge 
called  Cambridgeport,  in  Massachusetts,  on  the  10th  of  July, 
1809.  He  was  a  descendant  of  John  Livermore,  who  came 
from  Ipswich  in  England,  in  1634,  and  settled  in  Watertown 
in  this  State. 

Mr.  Livermore  attended  the  public  and  private  schools  at 
Cambridgeport  until  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  pursuing, 
in  addition  to  the  common  English  course,  some  of  the  pre- 
paratory studies  for  admission  to  college.  In  a  brief  auto- 
biographical sketch  written  during  his  last  sickness,  he  says  : 
"  Among  my  school-mates  at  the  private  school  was  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  now  so  widely  known  as  the  charming  poet 
and  prose-writer.  The  humorous  scene  described  in  '  The 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table,'  concerning  'the  Leghorn 
Hat,'  the  '  Port  Chuck,'  and  '  the  Race,'  is  as  vivid  to  my 
memory  as  if  it  took  place  yesterday."  * 


*  In  some  remarks  by  our  associate,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Society  after  Mr.  Livermoi'e's  death,  he  speaks  of  this  private  school,  and 
refers  to  some  of  those  who  attended  it  while  he  was  there.  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  and 
Margaret  Fuller  were  of  the  number.  "The  boys,"  he  says,  "  were  rather  a  fighting 
set;  and  our  champion,  a  nephew  of  the  most  celebrated  of  American  painters,  had 

BURTON  HIST.  COLLECTION 
DETROIT 

EXCHANOE  DUPLICATE 


4 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


His  constitution  being  feeble,  and  his  health  not  good,  it 
was  thought  best  that  he  should  abandon  the  idea  of  a  college 
education,  and  follow  some  more  active  calling.  Accordingly, 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  left  school,  and  went  into  the  store 
of  his  older  brothers,  Isaac  and  Marshall  Livermore,  mer- 
chants, at  Cambridgeport.  After  this  period  the  only  school 
advantages  he  enjoyed  were  a  course  of  exercises  in  English 
and  Latin  during  two  terms  at  the  Deerfield  Academy,  in 
1827-28. 

From  the  time  of  entering  the  store,  his  leisure  hours 
were  always  spent  in  reading  and  study ;  and  all  the  money 
he  could  earn  was  saved  for  the  purchase  of  books.  He  thus 
refers  to  this  period  of  his  life. 

"A  great  mauy  valuable  and  standard  works  were  published  in  a 
cheajD  form,  and  thus  came  within  the  reach  of  persons  of  small  means. 
I  was  sometimes  allowed  an  evening  to  go  to  Boston  and  attend  the 
book  auctions ;  and  I  felt  proud  and  happy  when  I  came  home  with 
two  or  three  volumes,  costing  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  cents  each. 
At  these  book  auctions  there  was  sold,  almost  every  time  I  was  present, 
a  thick  octavo  edition  of  Shakespeare,  with  rather  coarse  wood-cuts. 
The  price  generally  obtained  was  not  far  from  three  dollars.  I  had  read 
the  '  Merchant  of  Venice,'  from  a  borrowed  volume  of  Shakespeare,  and 
I  thought  that  an  author  who  could  write  like  that  was  w^orth  owning 
entire.  I  saved  my  money,  therefore,  till  I  had  three  dollars,  and  went 
to  Boston,  hoping  that  a  copy  of  my  coveted  author  might  be  put  up, 
and  sold  within  my  means.  I  was  not  disappointed.  After  waiting  an 
hour,  the  auctioneer  put  up  a  copy  of  Shakespeare.  The  bidding  began 
at  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  and  advanced  five  cents  till  it  reached 
two  dollars  and  ninety  cents,  when  it  was  knocked  down,  and  the  name 
of  the  purchaser  was  called  for.  I  had  bid  two  dollars  and  ninety  cents, 
but  another  bidder  gave  his  name.    I  claimed  the  book,  as  I  had  fairly 


at  least  two  regular  pitched  battles  with  outside  fellows,  who  challenged  the  preten- 
sions of  the  gentlemen  of  the  '  Academy.'  George  Livermore  came  among  this  rather 
rough  crowd,  the  mildest  and  quietest  of  boys, — slight,  almost  feminine  in  aspect, 
quite  alien  to  all  such  doings.  I  do  not  remember  him  as  conspicuous  in  any 
active  play,  still  less  as  ever  quarrelling  with  anybody.  He  was  a  lamb-like  creature, 
who  made  us  all  feel  kindly  to  him,  —  this  I  can  remember,  and  his  looks,  so  delicate 
and  gentle." 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


5 


made  the  bid ;  and  I  called  out  to  the  auctioneer  that  I  had  bid  $2.90 
too.  'Ah,'  said  he,  '  if  you  bid  $2.92,  the  book  is  yours,  as  you  are  the 
highest  bidder.'  I  had  no  disposition  to  quibble  about  his  pun,  but 
gladly  paid  two  dollars  and  ninety-two  cents,  and  hurried  home  with 
my  big  book  under  my  arm,  a  prouder  and  happier  boy  than  I  had  ever 
been  before.  This  was  the  Shakespeare  which  I  first  read.  I  marked 
the  favorite  passages  which  most  impressed  me,  and  noted  the  pages 
on  which  they  occurred,  on  the  fly-leaf  at  the  end  of  the  volume.  I 
kept  the  volume  for  many  years,  when,  wishing  to  own  an  English 
edition  with  notes,  and  not  feeling  able  to  keep  both,  I  had  tlie  folly 
to  exchange  it.  Many  a  time  have  I  regretted  this.  I  would,  it'  I 
could,  have  bought  it  back,  and  given  for  it  its  weight  in  gold." 

When  quite  a  young  man,  he  became  much  interested  in  the 
character  and  history  of  the  merchant-scholar,  William  Roscoe, 
the  first  account  of  whom  he  read  in  Irving's  Sketch-Book." 

"  I  was  much  pleased,"  he  says,  "  to  find  that  a  man  in  active  busi- 
ness, without  a  college  education,  had  accomplished  so  much  in  litera- 
ture, science,  and  statesmanship.  Roscoe  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  model 
which  one  might  well  strive  to  imitate,  at  however  humble  a  distance. 
My  respect  for  the  abilities,  attainments,  and  character  of  this  remark- 
able man  increased  with  my  knowledge  of  the  works  he  published. 
His  life,  written  by  his  son,  has  always  been  a  favorite  biography  with 
me ;  and  I  have  bouglit  a  large  number  of  copies  to  present  to  young 
friends.  When  I  visited  England  in  1845,  I  sought  out  the  principal 
places  connected  with  his  name,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  become 
personally  acquainted  with  many  of  his  friends  and  descendants." 

In  1829  Mr.  Livermore  went  to  Waltham  as  a  salesman  in 
a  dry-goods  store,"'  where  he  remained  a  year,  when,  a 
smarter  young  man  offering  his  services,"  he  returned  to 
Cambridge.  A  change  having  taken  place  in  his  brothers' 
business,  he  entered  the  shop  of  his  father,  who  was  a  soap- 
manufacturer,  and  went  to  work  making  fancy  soap  and 
wash-balls."  All  his  earnings,  except  what  he  needed  for 
his  clothes,  he  passed  over  to  his  father,  who  was  in  strait- 
ened circumstances.  His  father  had  given  him  a  silver 
watch  which  cost  ten  dollars. 

2 


6 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


"On  the  day  I  was  twenty-one  years  old,"  he  writes,  "wishing  in 
some  way  to  signalize  my  majority,  I  asked  my  father  for  a  dollar,  and 
took  a  trip  in  tlie  steamboat  to  Nahant.  The  fare  was  thirty-seven 
and  a  half  cents  each  way,  leaving  me  but  twenty-five  cents  for  other 
expenses.  I  could  not,  of  course,  get  a  dinner  at  any  public  house  with 
this  sum  ;  but  I  managed  to  find  a  grocery  store,  where  I  got  ninepence 
worth  of  gingerbread  and  crackers,  and  a  glass  of  lemonade  for  six 
cents,  which  I  regarded  as  a  good  dinner,  and  came  home  with  six 
cents  in  my  pocket.    This  was  my  start  in  life." 

Two  months  later,  the  person  in  whose  shop  at  Waltbam  he 
had  served  as  salesman,  called  upon  him,  and  urged  him  to 
return  into  his  employ,  saying  that  the  young  man  who  had 
succeeded  him  did  not  please  the  customers  as  well  as  he 
had  done,  and  offering  him  increased  pay.  The  invitation 
was  accepted,  and  Waltham  once  more  became  his  place  of 
residence.  The  following  spring,  his  employer,  Mr.  Smith, 
proposed  to  him  to  take  the  business  and  conduct  it  on  his 
own  account  for  two  years,  offering  fair  terms. 

"  I  hesitated  at  first,"  says  Mr.  Livermore,  "  about  assuming  such  a 
responsibility ;  but  my  friends  advised  me  not  to  let  so  favorable  an 
opportunity  slip,  and  on  the  first  of  April,  1831,  I  put  up  my  sign,  and 
commenced  business  on  my  own  account.  My  brother  Isaac  lent  me 
one  thousand  dollars  as  capital  to  pay  Mr.  Smith  in  part  for  his  goods. 
At  the  end  of  the  two  years  I  returned  the  one  thousand  dollars,  with 
interest,  and  had  earned  nearly  twice  as  much  more  for  my  own  cap- 
ital with  which  to  begin  business  elsewhere.  I  was  sorry  to  give  up 
so  good  a  business,  but  Mr  Smith  needed  and  had  a  right  to  the  store ; 
and  I  retired  from  the  scene  of  my  first  business  experience  and  success 
as  gracefully  as  I  could. 

"The  agent  of  the  Waltham  factories,  learning  that  I  was  to  resign 
to  Mr.  Smith  the  business  I  had  received  fi-om  him,  suggested  that  I 
should  take  the  'factory  store,'  wiiich  was  better  located  than  his,  and 
thus  retain  my  own  customers.  This  would  have  injured  Mr.  Smith 
seriously.  I  did  not  think  it  would  be  honorable  in  me  to  encroach 
upon  his  privileges,  and  I  promptly  declined  the  oiler." 

Mr.  Livermore's  religious  nature  was  warm  and  earnest, 
and  bad  been  early  developed  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances beneath  the  paternal  roof.    Although  suffering 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


7 


much  from  poor  health,  his  religious  views  were  cheerful. 
During  his  residence  in  Waltham,  he  boarded  with  a  lady 
of  eminent  piety,  who  had  a  high  regard  for  him. 

"  Her  religion,"  he  writes,  "  was  after  the  pattern  of  the  strictest  Cal- 
vinism. As  she  loved  me,  she  wished  to  save  my  soul  ;  and  no  argu- 
ments which  she  and  her  minister  and  friends  could  bring  were  kept 
back.  I  had,  however,  thought  and  read  a  good  deal  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  and  had  examined  the  evidences  for  and  against  the  particular 
form  of  faith  vv^hich  is  called  '  Orthodoxy.'  The  result  of  my  investiga- 
tions was  to  convince  me  that  the  grounds  of  true  religion  are  very 
simple ;  viz.,  to  love  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our  heart,  and  our 
neighbor  as  ourself  My  sister  Eliza  (now  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Stebbins)  did  more  than  any  one  else  to  encourage  my  religious  inqui- 
ries and  to  fix  my  religious  principles.  The  year  in  which  I  attained 
my  majority,  I,  with  her,  made  an  open  profession  of  my  faith,  and 
united  with  the  church  where  my  parents  worshipped,  where  my  father 
was  deacon,  and  where  I  had  been  a  Sunday-school  scholar  since  I  was 
five  years  old.  I  have  always  regarded  this  act  of  consecration  with 
satisfaction;  'not  as  though  I  had  already  attained,  either  were  already 
perfect,'  but  as  a  means  of  fixing  my  mind  and  directing  my  thoughts 
to  the  higher  and  spiritual  wants  of  my  nature.  My  dear  mother  had 
taught  me  a  large  number  of  hymns,  which  I  shall  never  forget,  and 
some  of  which  I  repeat  every  day  and  night." 

In  the  interval  between  relinquishing  his  business  at  Wal- 
tham  and  entering  into  new  engagements,  as  he  had  rarely 
been  away  from  home,  and  never  beyond  the  limits  of  this 
State,  he  made  a  visit  to  Maine,  which  was  followed  by  a  jour- 
ney to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Washington. 
On  his  return,  he  went  to  West  Point  and  Saratoga.  Of  his 
visit  to  Maine  he  says, — 

"  In  the  spring  of  1833,  soon  after  I  left  Waltham,  I  went,  by  sail- 
ing packet,  to  Bangor.  I  had  never  been  out  of  the  State  before.  The 
voyage  was  rather  rough  and  I  was  sea-sick  ;  but  it  was  a  new  experience 
to  me,  and  I  enjoyed  the  novelty.  I  went  to  Old  Town,  where  there 
was,  on  the  island  of  Orono,  an  Indian  settlement.  These  Indians  are 
Roman  Catholics.  They  have  a  church  and  a  Catholic  priest  on  the 
island.    The  church  is  a  rude  structure,  and  I  desired  to  see  the  inte- 


8 


MEMOIR  OP  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


rior.  The  priest  told  me  I  could  do  tliis  by  calling  on  the  deacon,  who 
had  the  keys,  and  giving  him  a  small  compensation  for  his  trouble.  He 
pointed  out  the  wigwam  where  the  deacon  lived,  and  I  went  there  and 
made  known  my  wishes  to  a  fat  squaw,  who  stood  at  the  entrance. 
'  You  want  to  see  church,'  said  she.  '  How  much  you  give  ? '  Wish- 
ing to  be  liberal,  I  said,  '  Half-dollar,'  being  twice  the  sum  the  priest 
had  named  as  the  customary  fee.  She  grumbled  out,  '  Deacon  not  at 
home.'  Supposing  that  I  should  have  to  go  again  to  accomplish  my 
purpose,  I  started  to  return,  when  the  squaw  called  out,  '  You  give  a 
dollar,  and  the  deacon  is  at  home.'  I  readily  produced  my  dollar,  and 
my  tawny  guide  came  out  with  the  keys  and  showed  me  the  church." 

During  his  visit  to  Washington,  he  called  upon  President 
Jackson,  and  was  surprised  to  find  that  hard  and  tyrannical 
ruler  so  gentle  and  affable  in  private  conversation."  He  also 
spent  a  day  at  Mount  Vernon,  with  the  greatest  interest  and 
satisfaction. 

Some  attempts  about  this  time  to  form  a  mercantile  con- 
nection failed,  but  in  1834  he  established  himself  in  Boston, 
in  the  shoe  and  leather  business.  This  led  him  at  times  to 
visit  other  cities,  and  to  be  absent  from  home  for  weeks  and 
months  together.  But  however  pressing  his  engagements, 
his  thoughts  always  reverted  fondl}^  to  the  paternal  hearth, 
and  to  his  Sunday  school,  which  through  life  claimed  his 
warmest  interest  and  affection. 

In  a  letter  to  a  younger  brother  from  New  York,  dated  22d 
September,  1834,  occurs  this  passage:  — 

"  Young  never  uttered  a  truer  sentiment  than  this :  '  We  take  no 
note  of  time  but  from  its  loss.'  You  are  just  at  the  age  when  time  is  of 
immense  value.  Improve  every  moment  ;  but  do  not  consider  time 
lost,  if  spent  in  profitable  conversation,  —  or  even  sometimes  in  silence. 
There  are  other  ways  of  improving  the  mind  than  reading  books  ;  read 
men,  read  the  volume  of  Nature ;  read  everything  you  see  ;  but  when 
you  take  a  printed  volume,  bestow  on  it  your  whole  attention,  and  read 
it  through  before  you  commence  anything  else.  You  are  just  arriv- 
ing at  an  age  when  you  will  feel  the  worth  of  information  on  almost 
any  subject.  In  a  few  weeks  you  will  be  called  to  act  for  yourself  in 
life.    I  believe  you  have  long  since  determined  to  act  in  all  things  from 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


9 


principle,  not  from  caprice,  oi-  the  impulse  of  the  moment.  Let  purity 
of  purpose  be  your  pole-star  through  life,  and  you  will  not  live  in  vain. 
The  time  will  come  when  all  will  find  their  proper  place  in  the  world. 
.  .  .  We  have,  as  a  family,  cause  to  be  grateful  that  our  escutcheon 
is  not  marred  by  one  dishonorable  blot.  Let  us  strive  to  increase  its 
lustre.  .  .  . 

Be  a  valuable  member  of  society,  no  matter  how  humble  may  be 
your  occupation  for  a  few  years.  Remember  Roger  Sherman  was 
called  from  the  cobbler's  bench  to  assist  in  drafting  the  Declaration  of 
Independence." 

In  the  winter  of  1834-5  he  went  to  the  South  and  West, 
spending  some  weeks  in  New  Orleans.  In  a  little  memorandum- 
book  kept  by  him  at  this  time,  we  find  that  on  the  15th  of 
February  he  "  heard  Rev.  Mr.  Clapp  preach  in  the  morning,'' 
and  in  the afternoon  attended  the  meeting  of  the  slaves  at 
the  Methodist  Church."  A  few  evenings  after  he  attended 
a  meeting  of  colored  persons  about  to  emigrate  to  Liberia. 
Gloster  Simpson,  formerly  a  slave,  and  recently  from  Liberia, 
spoke  in  favor  of  tlie  colony.  All  who  were  about  to  emi- 
grate formed  themselves  into  a  Temperance  Society."  For 
further  information  respecting  this  colonization  scheme,  he 
calls  the  next  day  on  this  Gloster  Simpson  from  Liberia. 

He  returned  home  from  New  Orleans  by  way  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Ohio  Rivers,  and  arriving  at  Louisville  spent 
the  Sunday  there,  March  15th.  He  attended  the  Sunday 
school  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clarke's  Society  "  (James  Freeman 
Clarke,  D.  D.,  now  of  Boston).  "  The  wdiole  number  of  schol- 
ars," he  says,  "  is  at  present  about  fifty.  Mr.  Clarke  preached 
in  the  morning  on  the  education  of  children." 

Mr.  Livermore's  love  of  books  increased  with  the  increase 
of  his  means:  indeed,  it  outran  his  means,  which  were  3^et 
small.  His  tastes  craved  for,  and  were  formed  upon,  the  best 
models :  the  authors  with  whom  he  communed  were  of  the 
highest  order,  not  only  as  regards  purity  and  elevation  of 
sentiment,  but  elegance  of  style.  His  pure  mind  rejected 
everything  coarse  or  irreverent.    He  had  a  great  horror  of 


10 


MEMOIR  OP  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


the  very  presence  of  books  of  a  demoralizing  tendency,  —  a 
feeling  which  led  him  to  discard  from  his  collection  a  copy 
of  Byron,  as  he  did  not  wish  so  impure  a  book  in  his  library. 

His  poetic  faculty  was  large,  and  showed  itself  not  only 
in  a  love  for  the  best  poets,  but  in  the  composition  of  some 
exquisite  verses.  Within  a  few  years  of  the  period  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking,  he  wrote  two  dedication-hymns,  a  num- 
ber of  hymns  addressed  to  Sunday-school  children,  some 
verses  suggested  by  the  Scripture  passage,  And  Jesus 
called  a  little  child  unto  him,"  &c.  Other  pieces  were  en- 
titled, ''The  Negro  Missionary,"  ''The  Blind  Harper  and  his 
Boy  in  Rogers's  Italy,"  and  some  verses  "  To  my  Sister  on  her 
Wedding-Day."  These  subjects  of  his  Muse  are  here  enumer- 
ated for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  largely  religious  ideas 
and  sentiments  possessed  his  mind  at  this  time.  Many  of 
these  verses  are  excellent  as  poetry,  and  probably  have  never 
been  published,  unless  upon  the  cards  of  his  Sunday  scholars. 
To  a  valued  friend  in  the  Divinity  School,  who  had  already 
dedicated  himself  to  the  cause  of  Sunday  schools  and  phil- 
anthropic labors  among  the  poor,  he  presented  a  copy  of  the 
"  Sunday-School  Guide,"  written  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  A. 
B.  Muzzey,  on  a  blank  leaf  of  which  was  inscribed  this 
sonnet : — 

"  TO  R.  C.  W.  * 

"  Self-consecrated  to  the  cause  of  truth, 
Wedded  to  charity  by  tenderest  ties, 
Thou  art  a  Guide  to  many  a  wandering  youth, 
Directing  upward  their  inquiring  eyes. 
Happy  the  chosen  path  thy  feet  pursue  ! 
The  work  our  Lord  began,  'tis  thine  to  do. 
To  bless  the  little  ones,  —  preach  to  the  poor, 
Lead  the  lone  pilgrim  to  the  heavenly  door. 
And  bid  him  enter  freely,  —  heal  the  blind 
By  pouring  light  celestial  on  the  mind, — 
Comfort  the  mourning,  —  bind  the  broken  heart, 
And  give  the  balm  religious  joys  impart  : 
These  are  the  duties  that  your  path  attend  ; 
God  bless  your  efforts  evermore,  my  friend  !  g.  l. 

"  December  10th,  1837." 


*  Waterston. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


11 


In  the  year  1838,  Mr.  Livermore  and  an  older  brother,  Isaac 
Livermore,  formed  a  copartnership  in  business  as  wool-mer- 
chants,—  an  arrangement  which  was  favorable  to  the  culti- 
vation of  his  literary  tastes,  as  the  larger  share  of  the 
responsibilities  of  the  business  would  be  assumed  by  the 
senior  partner,  who  would  regard  with  an  indulgent  eye  the 
favorite  pursuits  of  the  junior. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Livermore  began  to  keep  a  diary, 
which  he  continued  to  the  year  of  his  death.  The  volume 
for  1838  opens  with  a  dedication  to  his  favorite  sister;  and 
at  the  head  of  the  first  page  is  copied  the  following  stanza  :  — 

"  Thus  far  the  Lord  hath  led  me  on, 
Thus  far  I  make  his  mercy  known  ; 
And  while  I  walk  this  desert  land, 
New  blessings  shall  new  praise  command." 

This  daily  record  shows  the  development  of  his  tastes  and 
the  subjects  which  took  the  strongest  hold  upon  him,  whether 
of  a  moral,  religious,  or  political  nature.  We  see  what  books 
he  read,  and  what  were  his  opinions  of  different  authors.  He 
had  one  of  the  most  active  of  minds,  and  the  most  sensitive 
of  natures.  His  interest  in  the  parish,  in  the  Sunday  school, 
in  the  Lyceum,  in  the  political  meetings  of  his  ward,  <fec.,  never 
flagged.  He  was  a  constant  attendant  at  church,  and  for 
years  always  recorded  the  text  from  which  the  clergyman 
preached,  and  often  gave  an  account  of  the  discourse.  The 
sessions  of  the  Sunday  school  and  the  teachers'  meetings 
were  also  duly  noticed  in  his  diary.  Through  life  he  had  a 
great  reverence  for  sacred  things  —  for  the  Scriptures  and  the 
ordinances  of  religion.  He  had  a  horror  of  metaphysics,  and 
all  those  philosophies  which  tended,  as  he  thought,  to  scep- 
ticism. His  mind  was  more  poetic  and  aesthetic  than  logical, 
and  he  was  much  disturbed  by  the  discussions  on  Tran- 
scendentalism," when  they  first  appeared  here.  He  attended 
a  course  of  lectures  by  Mr.  Emerson,  whose  doctrines,  so  fixr 
as  he  understood  them,  much  disquieted  him.    But,  with  the 


12 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


utmost  simplicity,  he  says,  that  on  leaving  the  lecture-room 
he  is  unable  to  recall  any  definite  and  well-connected  ideas 
in  the  lectures  of  the  Concord  philosopher. 

He  is  found  this  year  deeply  engaged  in  reading  his  favor- 
ite author,  Roscoe.  Gray,  Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  Miss  Edge- 
worth,  and  Dickens  also  had  charms  for  him;  and  the  gentle 
Charles  Lamb  he  loved  as  an  elder  brother. 

His  love  of  Nature,  and  particularly  of  flowers,  was  a 
striking  trait  in  him.  Under  the  date  of  Dec.  8,  1838,  he 
says  he  received  a  fine  bunch  of  larch  from  his  sister,  in 
Leominster,  for  which  he  felt  very  grateful.  "  There  is  noth- 
ing which  gives  me  more  pleasure  than  these  little  tokens  of 
affection.  I  had  rather  see  an  old  broken  brown  pitcher,  filled 
with  natural  flowers  or  foliage,  than  the  most  curiously  wrought 
alabaster  vase,  with  only  artificial  flowers.  My  love  for  flowers 
and  plants  has  become  almost  a  passion,  —  I  believe  an  inno- 
cent one."  This  love  continued  through  life  :  in  the  season  of 
flowers,  he  was  rarely  seen  on  his  way  to  the  city  without  a 
bunch  of  them  in  his  hand  ;  and  he  frequently  distributed 
them  among  the  poor  city  children  that  he  met,  to  whom 
they  were  luxuries  indeed :  he  w^ould,  if  he  could,  have 
strewn  flowers  in  the  pathway  of  every  living  creature. 
These  flowers  were  cultivated  on  his  own  grounds,  and  many 
of  them  were  of  rare  varieties,  and  of  exquisite  beauty. 
Their  fragrance  fitly  symbolized  the  aroma  of  his  beautiful 
life. 

We  find  him  now  attending  Channing's  lecture  on  Self- 
Culture,  and  paying  the  expenses  of  a  young  man  in  college. 
He  is  interested  in  Mr.  Gurley  and  the  Colonization  Society, 
and  feels  that  the  Abolitionists  are  misrepresenting  its  pur- 
poses. With  Elliott  Cresson,  the  advocate  of  Colonization,  he 
is  holding  a  correspondence. 

In  a  memorandum  of  expenses  this  year,  one  half  the 
amount  is  put  down  to  necessary  expenses,  "  board  and  cloth- 
ing," about  one  quarter  to  the  account  of    books,"  and  the 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


13 


remainder  to  charity  and  presents."  The  library  he  had  col- 
lected at  this  time  was  comparatively  small.  In  an  entry 
made  September  6th,  he  says  he  had  to  work  hard  that  day, 
and  felt  annoyed  by  it,  as  he  had  five  or  six  new  books  he 
was  very  desirous  of  reading.  "  I  moved  mv  books  into  a  new 
secretary,  or  bookcase,  and  find  they  make  quite  a  show. 
It  seems  I  have  about  two  hundred  volumes  of  good  books  ; 
once  this  would  have  seemed  quite  a  library ;  now  I  only  be- 
gin to  see  how  many  books  I  want.  On  one  thing  I  am  deter- 
mined, —  that  is,  to  buy  no  more  trash ;  what  works  I  do 
have  shall  be  of  good  editions.  I  love  literature  too  well 
and  prize  books  too  highly  to  have  a  good  author  in  a  mean 
dress." 

One  day  an  old  gentleman  reproved  him  for  being  always 
found  with  a  book  in  his  hand ;  telling  him  it  was  "  a  bad 
sign  for  a  merchant  to  read  in  his  counting-room  ;  and  he  was 
"  abashed  "  by  it. 

Mr.  Livermore's  reading,  up  to  this  time,  seems  to  have 
been  somewhat  miscellaneous ;  that  is  to  say,  he  appears  to 
have  made  no  subject  a  specialty.  His  range  of  authors  had 
been  wide,  and,  as  we  have  already  observed,  of  the  best 
selection.  He  thus  laid  such  a  foundation  in  a  general  knowl- 
edge of  English  literature,  as  well  fitted  him  for  those  more 
special  studies  which  we  shall  soon  see  him  entering  upon, 
and  which  he  pursued  with  such  ardor  through  life.  He  was 
always  interested  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  in  the 
great  themes  which  they  suggest ;  and  his  duties  as  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher  naturally  offered  a  constant  inducement  to  the 
pursuit  of  these  studies.  But  now  we  fijad  him  (21st  Novem- 
ber, 1838)  buying  a  copy  of  Coverdale's  Bible.  It  was  proba- 
bly a  reprint  by  Bagster,  issued  this  year. 

On  the  1st  of  October,  1839,  Mr.  Livermore  was  married  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Cunningham  Odiorne,  of  Cambridgeport,  —  a 
connection  which  opened  a  new  field  for  the  exercise  of  his 
warm  and  generous  nature.    In  him  the  domestic  virtues  had 

3 


14 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


a  rare  growth,  and  no  one  could  be  more  fortunate  in  the  cir- 
cumstances which  througli  life  tended  to  hallow  the  marriage 
relation. 

He  is  developing  a  taste,  at  this  time,  for  our  local  his- 
tory, and  appears  to  have  kept  a  Record-Book  of  matters 
connected  with  the  annals  of  his  native  town.  We  find  him, 
in  the  early  part  of  1841,  owning  twenty-six  volumes  of  the 
Historical  Society's  Collections,  almost  an  entire  set,  —  and 
Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  and  all  the  Family  and 
Classical  Libraries.  ^'  Every  day  I  go  to  Burnham's  and 
Drake's  and  other  bookstores,  to  see  something  new  ;  I  must 
form  a  resolution  to  keep  away,"  as  he  has  yet  a  number  of 
books  unread,  —  but  he  fears  he  will  be  unable  to  abide  by  it 
for  any  length  of  time. 

The  "Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,"  the  ante-Revolutionary 
patriot,  he  reads  with  great  interest.  "  It  is  an  account  of 
one  who  lived  long,  though  he  died  young." 

Mr.  Livermore  always  felt  a  deep  interest  in  whatever  was 
going  on  around  him.  On  the  29th  of  January,  1842,  he  was 
present  in  the  saloon  of  the  Tremont  Theatre,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  presentation  of  a  piece  of  plate  to  Captain  Hewitt,  by 
the  passengers  of  the  steamship  Britannia,"  as  a  testimonial 
of  his  skill  in  the  management  of  his  ship  during  a  violent 
storm.  He  there  saw  Charles  Dickens,  one  of  the  passengers 
in  that  ship,  who  made  the  presentation  speech,  and  whose 
appearance  disappointed  him.  "  My  idea,"  he  says,  "  of  the 
author  of  Oliver  Twist  and  dear  little  Nell  was  quite  too 
spiritual  to  be  realized  in  any  human  form." 

In  his  business  experience,  now  and  through  life,  there 
were,  at  times,  days  and  months  of  doubt  and  anxiety,  when 
it  seemed  difficult  to  see  through  the  dark  clouds  which  over- 
spread the  financial  prospect.  He  had  a  high  sense  of  mer- 
cantile honor ;  but  he  was  never  ambitious  of  being  a  rich 
man.  Amidst  all  his  anxieties,  his  books,  next  to  his  family, 
were  his  never-failing  solace. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


15 


He  was  gradually  adding  to  his  store  of  Biblical  works,  as 
opportunities  and  means  favored  their  acquisition.  On  the 
3d  of  March,  1842,  he  saw  on  sale,  at  Little  and  Brown's,  a 
copy  of  Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  the  price  of  which  was  twenty- 
five  dollars.  He  could  not  think  of  buying  it,  but  his  brother 
bought  it  and  generously  presented  it  to  him.  Copies  of  the 
same  book  have  since  been  sold  for  more  than  a  thousand  dol- 
lars. On  the  30th  of  June  he  visits  the  library  of  Harvard 
College,  and  finds  Mr.  Sibley  very  attentive  and  obliging 
showing  him  many  old  volumes  which  make  his  ^'  eyes  open 
very  wide."  The  next  month  he  visits,  probably  for  the  first 
time,  the  rooms  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  at 
Worcester,  and  receives  polite  attention  from  Mr.  Haven, 
the  librarian  of  that  institution,  —  subsequently  one  of  Mr. 
Livermore's  most  intimate  friends. 

In  the  early  part  of  1843,  the  library  of  the  Rev.  Thaddeus 
M.  Harris,  D.D.,  was  sold  at  auction,  in  Boston,  and  Mr.  Liv- 
ermore  was  tempted  to  buy  some  of  the  "  antiques  "  in  that 
collection.  Among  the  books  sold,  he  speaks  of  a  copy  of 
Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  which  brought  thirty-nine  dollars. 

In  February  of  this  year  he  evinces  his  growing  interest 
in  those  studies  which  through  life  were  a  specialty  with 
him  by  writing  an  article  on  this  Indian  Bible  for  the  "  Chris- 
tian World,"  a  religious  newspaper,  edited  by  George  G. 
Channing.  He  afterwards  suggests  to  the  editor  the  devo- 
tion of  a  certain  part  of  his  paper  to  Sunday  schools,  and 
agrees  to  furnish  something  to  that  department  for  a  month. 

He  is  reading  with  intense  dehght  the  Reminiscences  of 
Thomas  Frognall  Dibdin.  ^'  I  love  him,"  he  says.  He  is  also 
reading  that  author's  ^'^des  Althorpianae." 

He  now  engages  to  assist  a  young  man  to  pursue  his 
studies  for  the  ministry :  a  case  where  the  principal  charge 
would  be  borne  by  him. 

Strange  to  say,  for  the  first  time,  he  this  year  (March  10) 
visited  the  library  of  the  Boston  Athengeum.  Probably  he  then 


16 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE, 


little  thought  that  in  a  few  years  he  would  be  chosen  one  of 
the  Trustees  of  that  institution,  the  Chairman  of  its  Library 
Committee,  and  then  its  Vice-President,  and  regarded  as  one 
of  its  most  efficient  and  influential  managers. 

On  the  29th  of  March  we  find  him  attending  the  meeting 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  at  the  First  Church 
in  Chauncy  Place,  where  he  hears  the  second  Centennial  Dis- 
course of  John  Quincy  Adams,  on  the  Formation  of  the  New- 
England  Confederacy^  of  1643. 

About  this  time  was  started  a  curious  Biblical  question, 
which  Mr.  Livermore  and  the  late  President  of  the  Historical 
Society,  the  Hon.  James  Savage,  were  much  interested  in 
solving.  In  September  of  this  year,  the  Rev.  Rufus  P. 
Stebbins  delivered  a  Centennial  Discourse  before  the  First 
Congregational  Society  at  Leominster,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  had  occasion  to  mention  the  Rogers  family  residing  in  that 
town,  who  claimed  to  be  descended  from  the  first  Marian 
martyr.  He  referred,  also,  to  an  old  copy  of  the  Bible  in  the 
possession  of  a  member  of  the  family  in  Lunenburg,  which, 
according  to  tradition,  once  belonged  to  the  Martyr  himself: 
indeed,  it  was  said  to  have  been  the  identical  copy  which 
he  carried  to  the  stake ;  and  it  now  bears  upon  its  leaves  the 
marks  of  fire.  The  titlepage  having  disappeared  from  the 
volume,  its  date  could  not  readily  be  ascertained.  But  what 
was  supposed  to  be  the  monogram  of  the  old  printer,  Cawood, 
was  found  upon  the  book ;  and  it  was  stated  on  respectable 
authority  that  Cawood  printed  but  one  edition  of  the  Bible, 
namely,  in  1549,  six  years  before  the  Martyr's  death.  All  this 
was  therefore  consistent  with  the  tradition  that  the  book  had 
belonged  to  Rogers,  and  was  now  in  the  possession  of  a  de- 
scendant. 

Previously  to  publishing  his  discourse,  Mr.  Stebbins  ap- 
plied to  Mr.  Livermore  for  information  on  this  subject.  Mr. 
Livermore  showed  from  unquestionable  authority,  that  Ca- 
wood printed  a  number  of  editions  of  the  Bible  after  1555, 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


17 


the  year  of  the  Martyr's  death  ;  and  therefore,  in  the  absence 
of  more  definite  information,  which  he  could  not  then  furnish, 
as  to  the  precise  edition  of  the  Lunenburg  Bible,  it  must 
remain  doubtful  whether  the  Martyr  could  have  owned  that 
copy.  Yet  as  Cawood  was  said  to  have  printed  one  edition 
before  Rogers's  death,  he  felt  that  the  probabilities  favored  the 
family  tradition. 

The  investigation  of  the  subject,  however,  did  not  end  here. 
Mr.  Savage's  interest  in  the  matter  centred  principally  on 
the  genealogical  question  as  to  the  descent  of  the  Rogerses 
in  this  country  (those  Avho  came  from  Nathaniel,  of  Ipswich, 
Mass.)  from  the  Marian  Martyr.  He  had  no  faith  in  the 
tradition,  and  was  curious  to  know  whether  the  Lunenburg 
Bible  furnished  any  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence.  A  frag- 
ment of  that  Bible  was  therefore  procured  by  Mr.  Livermorc, 
and  sent  to  his  correspondent,  Mr.  Henry  Stevens,  in  London, 
who,  with  Mr.  George  Offer,  the  editor  of  Bagster's  reprint 
of  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  diligently  compared  it  with 
copies  of  Cawood's  editions  of  known  date,  when  it  was  clearly 
ascertained  that  the  Lunenburg  copy  was  of  the  edition  of 
1561,  six  years  after  the  Martyr's  death.  A  sheet  of  the 
Bible  of  that  date  was  subsequently  sent  by  Mr.  Offer  to  this 
country,  and  a  careful  collation  being  instituted  with  the 
Lunenburg  copy,  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in  London  were 
abundantly  confirmed.  Later  investigations  into  the  genea- 
logical question,  both  in  this  country  and  in  England,  have 
shown  the  improbability  of  the  tradition  that  John  Rogers, 
of  Dedham,  England,  (the  father  of  Nathaniel,  of  Ipswich, 
Mass.),  was  a  grandson  of  the  Marian  Martyr. 

In  November  of  this  year,  the  Biblical  library  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Homer,  of  Newton,  was  placed  on  sale  at  Messrs.  Little 
and  Brown's ;  and  Mr.  Livermore  bought  from  it  a  number  of 
copies  of  rare  editions  of  the  Bible.  Among  them  was  a  copy 
of  the  Genevan  version,  presented  by  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin 
to  Dr.  Homer,  and  supposed  by  its  former  owners  to  have 


18 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LTVERMORE. 


been  the  identical  copy  presented  by  the  printer  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  —  also  the  Bible  which  formerly  belonged  to  Adam 
Winthrop,  the  father  of  the  first  Governor  Winthrop.  This  gave 
further  impetus  to  his  studies  in  this  direction.  The  library 
of  the  Duke  of  Sussex  was  sold  the  next  year.  This  collec- 
tion was  rich  in  rare  copies  of  the  Bible,  some  of  which  were 
purchased  by  Mr.  Livermore.  Further  rarities  were  subse- 
quently added  to  his  collection  from  the  library  of  the  late 
Dr.  Hawtrey,  Provost  of  Eton,  —  among  which  may  be  no- 
ticed ail  Evangelistarium,  for  the  use  of  the  Church,  written 
on  parchment,  and  supposed  to  be  of  a  date  as  early  as  the 
eighth  century.  From  these  sources  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  large  collection  of  Biblical  works  which  his  library  now 
contains.  But  his  time  was  not  wholl}^  spent,  as  it  often  is 
with  book  collectors,  in  amassing  books :  he  was  a  careful 
student  of  them.^ 

In  December  of  this  year,  Mr.  Livermore  visited  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Robbins,  D.  D.,  then  living  at  Mattapoiset,  in  Roch- 
ester, Mass.,  to  inspect  his  valuable  collection  of  old  Bibles. 
Dr.  Robbins  afterwards  removed  to  Connecticut,  and  became 
Secretary  of  the  Historical  Society  of  that  State,  leaving  to  it 
his  library. 

He  now  makes  the  acquaintance  of  some  who  were  after- 
wards his  associates  in  this  Society,  including  Mr.  Longfellow, 
Mr.  Hillard,  and  Mr.  Norton.  Mr.  Hillard  recalls  his  early 
friendship  for  Mr.  Livermore  in  some  touching  remarks  made 
before  this  Society  at  the  meeting  following  his  death,  which 
were  printed  in  the  volume  of  Proceedings."  Mr.  Water- 
ston  was  an  earlier  friend ;  Mr.  Livermore  showing  much  in- 
terest in  his  library,  and  adding  to  it,  from  time  to  time,  some 
curious  volume.  With  Mr.  Ticknor  he  formed  an  early  acquaint- 
ance.   In  the  third  edition  of  his     History  of  Spanish  Litera- 


*  It  should  be  stated  tluit  Mr.  Livermore  could  read  neither  Hebrew  nor  Greek,  though 
his  Biblical  collection  contained  some  books  in  these  languages.  In  early  life  he 
acquired  some  knowledge  of  Latin,  which  was  of  service  to  him  in  later  years. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


19 


ture/'  Mr.  Ticknor  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  for  the  cor- 
rection of  an  error  of  Navarrete  —  in  referring  to  the  eigli- 
teentk  Psalm,  as  containing  the  prophecy  appropriated  by 
Columbus  to  himself,  instead  of  the  nineteenth^  as  stated  in 
the  Giustiniani  Polyglott  Psalter  of  1516  —  to  his  friend^ 

George  Livermore,  of  Cambridge,  who  has  in  his  precious 
library,"  says  Mr.  Ticknor,  a  copy  of  the  Giustiniani  Poly- 
glott, which,  when  he  pointed  out  tlie  error  to  me,  I  did  not 
own."  (vol.  i.  p.  188.) 

Between  our  former  associate,  the  late  Rev.  Alexander 
Young,  and  Mr.  Livermore,  there  existed  the  warmest  friend- 
ship. They  had  many  literary  affinities.  Dr.  Young  was  a 
ripe  scholar,  and  had  the  tastes  and  sympathies  of  an  an- 
tiquary. He  had  a  true  Dibdin  eye  for  a  good  book,  and  the 
rare  art  of  handling  a  volume  properly,  which  few  persons 
possess.  He  knew  how  to  open  a  book  without  breaking  its 
back,  and  to  turn  over  its  leaves  so  that  its  owner  would  not 
tremble  while  it  was  in  his  hand.  There  is  a  knack  in  all 
this,  known  only  to  the  true  lover  of  books,  —  to  him  who 
reverences  not  merely  the  author,  or  the  author's  thoughts, 
but  the  concrete  object  before  him.  You  never  would  see 
him  taking  up  a  noble  volume,  clothed  in  Bedford's  best 
Levant,  and  in  . his  best  style,  and,  balancing  it  on  one  hand, 
allow  one  of  the  covers  to  swing  at  an  angle  of  ninety  de- 
grees, endangering  the  joint  on  which  it  hung;  nor  find  him 
leaning  on  an  open  page,  crumpling  the  virgin  leaves,  and 
making  "  dog's  ears  "  of  the  corners. 

Dr.  Young  had  a  great  love  for  such  an  author,  for  in- 
stance, as  Coryat,  the  great  foot-traveller,  the  Odcombian 
Leggestretcher,"  as  he  styled  himself,  and  would  read  with  de- 
light his  Crudities  hastily  gobled  vp  in  Five  Moneths  Trauells 
in  France,  Sauoy,  Italy,"  &c.,  <fec.  With  what  rare  pleasure 
have  we  heard  him  read  the  passage  in  this  quaint  writer, 
where,  in  describing  the  wines  of  Venice,  he  says  that  the 
"  Lagryme  di  Christo  ...  is  so  toothsome  and  delectable  to 


20 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


the  taste,  that  a  certain  stranger,  being  newly  come  to  the 
citie,  and  tasting  of  this  pleasant  wine,  was  so  affected  there- 
with, that  I  heard  he  vttered  this  speech  out  of  a  passionate 
humour :  0  Domine,  Bomine,  cur  non  lachrymasti  in  regionibus 
nostris?  " 

Izaac  Walton,  too,  was  an  author  after  his  own  heart ;  and  the 
bit  of  philosophy  contained  in  his  quaint  praise -of  the  straw- 
berry Dr.  Young  always  thought  inimitable,  and  would  cite 
the  passage  with  gout :  "  Indeed,  my  good  scholar,  we  may 
say  of  angling  as  Dr.  Boteler  said  of  strawberries,  '  Doubtless 
God  could  have  made  a  better  berry,  but  doubtless  God  never 
did."'  But  Dr.  Young's  great  book  was  BoswelPs  Johnson, 
which  he  used  to  say  a  person  should  read  through  once  a  year. 
His  "  Library  of  Old  English  Prose  Writers "  reveals  the 
well  of  English  undefiled  "  from  wdiich  lie  drew ;  and  his 
"  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims  "  and  Chronicles  of  Massachu- 
setts "  show  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  early  history  of 
his  native  State."^* 

Another  friend,  afterwards  a  member  of  this  Society,  was 
Edward  A.  Crowninshield.  He  was  a  true  gentleman,  a  man 
of  elegant  manners  and  of  a  refined  and  cultivated  taste.  He 
was  an  ardent  lover  of  books,  and  had  one  of  the  rarest  libra- 
ries of  old  English  literature  in  this  part  of  the  country.  He 
had  the  first  edition  of  Chaucer,  the  first  edition  of  Shake- 
speare's and  of  Milton's  Poems,  ^'  The  Schoolmaster,"  by  Roger 
Ascham,  Coryat's  Crudities "  of  the  edition  of  1611,  &c. 
His  library  was  also  quite  rich  in  early  American  history 
and  biography.  Seated  in  his  elegant  room,  with  all  its  lux- 
urious appointments,  surrounded  by  his  Strawberry  Hills," 
his  "  Lee  Priories,"  and  his  "  Dibdins  "  (all  of  which  told 


*  Dr.  Young  died  on  the  lOtli  of  March,  1854.  Hiiloss  was  deeply  felt  by  his  friends. 
In  a  note  dated  lUh  April,  Mr.  Livermore  writes:  "Thanks  for  your  kind  note 
of  yestcrda}'-,  and  for  the  perusal  of  that  of  Crowninshield.  I  do  not  wonder  that  he 
feels  so  deeply  the  loss  of  Dr.  Young.  For  many  years,  '  we  three '  met  daily  at  Little 
and  Brown's.  I  cannot  realize  that  I  shall  see  his  face  no  more  on  earth.  I  think 
every  day  he  will  call  and  see  me." 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIYERMORE. 


21 


you  that  their  owner  regarded  the  art  of  bookbinding  as  one 
of  the  fine  arts),  he  would  remind  you  of  some  of  the  pict- 
ures of  Horace  Walpole.* 

Mr.  Livermore  and  these  two  friends,  for  years,  met  almost 
daily,  at  noon,  at  the  book-store  of  Messrs.  Little  and  Brown, 
and  there  held  sweet  converse  among  the  noble  volumes 
which  surrounded  them.  No  one,  it  may  here  be  observed, 
had  a  greater  love  of  humor,  or  had  more  of  fun  and  frolic  in 
his  nature,  than  Mr.  Livermore  himself;  and  when  the  proper 
time  came  for  its  display,  it  had  free  course.  These  meetings 
were  choice  occasions.  Books,  of  course,  were  the  chief  theme ; 
but  the  conversation  took  a  wide  range,  and  there  were  free 
discussions  upon  whatever  topics  of  interest  came  up.  As  has 
been  seen,  few  were  more  fond  of  anecdote,  or  could  tell  a 
better  story,  than  Dr.  Young.  His  wit  and  humor  had  the 
true  flavor,  like  the  bouquet  of  choice  wine.  At  one  time  Cot- 
ton Mather  was  the  subject  of  remark.  Some  one  said  that 
he  was  born  out  of  time  ;  that,  unhappily,  he  lived  at  a  transi- 
tion period  in  the  colony,  when  clergymen  were  losing  the 
influence  and  authority  which  had  so  long  been  conceded  to 
them  ;  and  this  wounded  his  vanity.  "  An  influence  and  au- 
thority,^^ replied  Dr.  Young,  in  quiet  irony,  assuming  an  air  of 
gravity  and  importance,  "  which  the  clergy  at  the  present  day 
are  rapidl}^  recovering." 

The  eccentricities  of  Mr.  Dowse,  of  whom  the  members  of 
the  Society  are  constantly  reminded  by  the  speaking  picture 
of  him  in  the  Dowse  Library,  would  now  and  then  be  the 
subject  of  pleasant  remark.       How  many  volumes  have 


*  Mr.  Crowninshield  died  on  the  21st  of  February,  1859.  Mr.  Livermore  thus  writes 
on  the  same  day:  —  Poor  Crowninshield  is  gone  !  He  was  as  well  as  usual  yesterday 
afternoon ;  but  in  the  evening,  whilst  coughing,  he  was  seized  with  a  severe  hemorrhage 
of  the  lungs,  fainted,  and  passed  away!  We  little  thought,  whilst  speaking  of  him  on 
Friday  as  one  of  the  Standing  Committee  for  next  year,  that  before  we  met  again  he 
would  be  numbered  with  the  dead.  I  loved  him  deeply,  and  I  cannot  but  mourn  his 
loss,  though  I  feel  that  a  merciful  Providence  has  saved  him  from  much  suffering  by 
thus  suddenly  and  gently  relieving  him  from  his  pains." 

4 


22 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


you  in  your  collection  ?  "  was  a  question  often  put  to  him  by 
impertinent  curiosity.  ^'  Never  counted  them/'  was  the  quick 
and  decisive  reply. 

Not  infrequently  two  or  three  other  friends  would  make 
their  way  into  this  charmed  circle ;  and  the  cheery  presence 
of  Mr.  James  Brown,  who  loved  good  books  not  merely 
because  he  dealt  in  them,  was  always  a  benediction. 

Sometimes  the  late  John  Overton  Choules,  D.  D.,  whose 
rotund  figure  always  recalled  a  well-remembered  line  of 
Thomson's,  would  appear  amongst  this  company  of  biblio- 
philists.  The  Doctor  was  a  great  lover  of  books,  and  was 
thoroughly  orthodox  in  his  tastes.  He  used  to  say,  that  "  old 
books  and  old  wine  "  were  fit  companions.  He  edited  some 
of  the  writings  of  others,  but  his  labors  in  this  field  were  not 
always  regarded  with  favor  by  scholars.  He  never  would 
acknowledge  a  suspicion  of  the  authorship  of  the  scathing 
criticism  which  appeared  in  the  Christian  Examiner,"  for 
January,  1845,  on  his  edition  of  NeaPs  "  History  of  the  Puri- 
tans," published  by  the  Harpers  the  year  before ;  and  used, 
in  apparent  simplicity,  to  ask  Mr.  Livermore,  "  who  he  thought 
could  have  written  it." 

In  March,  1845,  we  find  Mr.  Livermore  making  corrections 
for  the  new  edition  of  Grahame's  "History  of  the  United 
States,"  published  this  year,  under  the  supervision  of  Presi- 
dent Quincy.  He  calls  upon  Mr.  Quincy,  who  thanks  him 
for  the  service  rendered,  and  promises  to  acknowledge  it  in 
the  Preface.  This  was  the  beginning  of  their  acquaintance, 
and  each  continued  to  entertain  the  highest  regard  for  the 
character  of  the  other.  Mr.  Livermore  had  an  almost  romantic 
admiration  for  the  heroic  qualities  of  Mr.  Quinc}^.  Every 
summer  or  autumn,  for  ten  or  twelve  of  the  last  years  of  the 
life  of  the  venerable  patriot,  Mr.  Livermore,  in  company  with 
the  writer  of  this  notice,  paid  a  visit  to  the  family  mansion  in 
Quincy,  where  a  warm  welcome  always  awaited  him. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


23 


This  year  Mr.  Livermore  visited  Europe,  with  his  friend, 
Mr.  James  Brown,  sailing  on  the  1st  of  April.  He  was 
furnished  with  letters  from  Mr.  Sparks,  Mr.  Ticknor,  and 
other  well-known  gentlemen.  His  journal,  in  the  form  of  let- 
ters to  his  family,  would  make  a  most  interesting  volume,  and 
is  worthy  of  being  printed  entire.  He  did  not  follow  the 
beaten  track  of  the  tourist.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of 
many  eminent  men,  and  visited  many  famous  libraries,  inspect- 
ing, as  time  permitted,  the  curious  books  and  manuscripts 
which  they  contained. 

The  first  object  he  would  seek,  on  his  arrival  at  Liverpool, 
would  be  some  memorial  of  Roscoe.  Under  date  of  the  13th 
of  April  he  writes :  — 

"  My  first  visit  in  the  Old  World  was  to  the  grave  of  Roscoe.  From 
my  childhood,  when  I  read  in  the  '  Sketch-Book '  Irving's  glowing 
account  of  Roscoe,  I  have  felt  a  deep  interest  in  everything  relating 
to  him.  I  have  never  read  any  works  of  biography  or  history  with 
more  pleasure  and  profit  than  his  '  Lorenzo  de  Medici '  and  '  Leo 
X.'  The  beautiful  style  of  the  composition,  the  fine  taste,  correct 
views,  and  pure  principles,  which  are  so  prominent  in  tliese  volumes, 
quite  fascinated  me  with  the  author ;  and  since  reading  his  Life  by  his 
son,  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  I  have  had  for  his  character  the  most 
profound  respect  and  enthusiastic  admiration.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar, 
a  pure  patriot,  and  a  liberal,  humble,  consistent  Christian.  Though 
engaged  in  the  active  duties  and  cares  of  business,  he  found  time  to 
cultivate  a  taste  for  literature,  science,  and  the  fine  arts ;  and,  in  each 
department,  the  world  has  been  benefited  by  his  published  works.  His 
friends  in  Liverpool  have  shown  in  various  ways  their  respect  for  his 
memory.  Roscoe's  grave  is  in  a  remote  corner  of  the  burying-ground 
connected  with  the  Unitarian  Chapel  in  Renshaw  Street.  I  was  dis- 
appointed not  to  find  a  monument  here.  There  is  nothing  but  a  plain 
horizontal  slab  to  mark  the  place  of  the  family  tomb.  There  is  no 
inscription,  but  the  names  and  ages  of  those  who  are  buried  beneath, 
with  the  date  of  their  birth  and  death." 

Of  course  he  did  not  fail  to  see  the  full  length  statue  of 
Roscoe  by  Chantrey,  in  the  Royal  Institution. 

Through  letters  from  his  friend,  Mr.  Charles  Sumner,  Mr. 


24 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


Livermore  became  acquainted  with  members  and  friends  of 
the  Roscoe  family  in  Liverpool,  and  afterwards  in  London, 
from  whom  he  received  the  most  flattering  attentions.  A 
dinner-party  was  made  for  him  at  Liverpool,  at  which  he  saw 
many  of  the  descendants  of  Roscoe,  who  had  been  invited 
especially  to  meet  him.  Mr.  Robert  Roscoe,  residing  in  Lon- 
don, called  on  him,  invited  him  to  his  house,  and  gave  him 
several  memorials  of  his  father,  including  a  letter  relating  to 
his  edition  of  Pope,  a  volume  of  poetry  translated  from  the 
Italian,  and  a  beautiful  crystal  miniature  head  of  him  in  has- 
relief. 

While  in  London,  Mr.  Livermore  visited  the  great  bibli- 
ographer, Thomas  Frognall  Dibdin,  whose  writings  he  had 
so  thoroughly  studied,  and  from  whom  he  received  a  most 
hearty  welcome.  Dibdin  was  surprised  to  find  that  so  many 
persons  in  this  country  were  interested  in  his  writings. 
Seizing  Mr.  Livermore's  hands,  he  said,  —  My  dear  sir,  I  see 
you  are  a  genuine  bibliomaniac.  I  thank  you  for  coming  to 
see  me.  I  will  point  out  to  you  such  treasures  in  books  as 
will  delight  your  heart.  You  must  go  with  me  to  Mr.  Gren- 
ville's  library;  and  I  will  give  you  an  introduction  to  Oxford, 
Althorp,  and  other  places,  where  you  will  see  such  books  as 
you  have  never  beheld  before."  ^ 

His  account  of  a  visit  to  the  poet  Rogers,  on  the  25th  of 
April,  in  company  with  Mr.  Brown,  we  give  entire :  — 

"  Mr.  Rogers  lives  at  22,  St.  James's  Place.  The  entrance  is  in  a  very 
quiet  and  retired  situation,  but  the  windows  in  the  parlors  and  drawing- 
room  command  a  fine  view  of  St.  James's  Park.  We  sent  in  our 
cards  to  Mr.  Rogers,  and  were  at  once  very  cordially  received.  He 
made  many  inquiries  about  affairs  in  our  country,  and  then  invited  us 
to  his  library  and  parlor,  where  we  saw  treasures  in  books  and  paint- 


*  Dibdin  subsequently  proposed  to  give  a  dinner-party  to  Mr.  Livermore,  -sWiere  he 
could  meet  some  distinguished  bibliographers,  and  kindred  spirits;  but  Mr.  Livermore 
was  obliged,  by  reason  of  pressing  engagements,  to  excuse  himself,  and  decline  the 
honor. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


25 


ings  which  were  of  themselves  worth  a  long  journey  to  see.  Whilst 
we  were  there,  Mr.  Wordsworth  came  in,  and  we  were  introduced  to 
him.  To  see  the  author  of  '  The  Excursion '  and  the  author  of  '  The 
Pleasures  of  Memory '  together,  to  take  them  both  by  the  hand  and 
listen  to  their  conversation,  was  surely  '  glory  enough '  for  one  day. 
The  personal  appearance  of  the  two  poets  is  quite  unlike.  Rogers  is 
over  eighty  years  old,  yet  not  enfeebled  by  age.  His  manners  are 
gentle  and  graceful,  his  countenance  mild  and  delicate,  and  his  voice 
sweet  and  remarkably  pleasing.  Wordsworth  is  eight  or  ten  years 
younger.  He  is  nearly  a  head  taller  than  Rogers,  and  looks  quite  as 
old  ;  what  little  hair  remains  on  his  head  is  quite  gray.  His  manners 
are  rough,  his  voice  loud,  his  conversation  very  rapid  and  vehement ; 
his  whole  soul  seems  to  be  thrown  into  the  subject  before  him.  When 
he  is  silent,  he  looks  just  like  the  engraved  portrait  in  his  Poems.  I 
should  have  known  him  from  the  resemblance.  But  when  he  talks,  the 
quiet  and  gentle  look  that  the  engraving  indicates  is  gone.  Perhaps 
he  was  unusually  excited  to-day ;  for  he  has  come  to  London  to  be  pre- 
sented for  the  first  time  to  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen,  as  Poet-Laureate. 
He  must  appear  in  full  court  dress,  and  wear  a  sword,  an  unusual 
thing  for  him.  Well,  we  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Rogers,  to  the 
Laureate,  as  from  America.  His  first  words  were,  '  Gentlemen,  are 
you  from  Pennsylvania  ? '  We  knew  why  he  asked :  he  is  deeply 
interested  in  the  credit  of  that  State,  being  the  holder  of  its  bonds,  on 
which  the  interest  had  not  been  promptly  paid  ;  and  the  odious  and 
shameful  doctrine  of  repudiation  was  probably  associated  in  his  mind 
with  that  State  and  its  citizens.  So  I  j^romptly  answered,  — '  No,  from 
Boston  in  New  England,  where  repudiation  finds  no  favor  with  the 
people.'  —  '  Do  you  think  Pennsylvania  will  pay  her  debts  ?  ' — '  Yes,'  I 
replied,  '  undoubtedly,  principal  and  interest.'  — '  So  do  I,'  said  Words- 
worth :  '  I  have  always  thought  so.  I  hold  a  large  amount  of  State 
securities ;  and  some  of  my  friends,  too,  are  large  holders.  I  have 
always  advised  them  not  to  sacrifice  them  ;  and  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  we 
shall  not  be  likely  to  lose.'  T  was  glad  enough  to  get  through  with  this 
unpleasant  matter  of  repudiation  so  well.  He  asked  several  questions 
about  our  country  ;  inquired  if  I  knew  Professor  Ticknor  ;  when  I  left 
home  ;  how  long  I  proposed  to  stay  ;  and  what  route  I  intended  to  take. 
But  before  I  could  answer  half  his  questions,  he  said, '  I  suppose  you  will 
do  as  your  countrymen  generally  do,  when  they  come  here, — hurry 
through  some  of  the  most  remarkable  places  in  England  by  railway,  and 
then  be  off  to  Italy  to  see  paintings,  and  to  Germany  to  see  the  great 


26 


MEMOIR  OP  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


metaphysicians :  for  my  part,  I  think  we  have  paintings  and  works  of 
art  in  England,  enough  to  interest  one  for  years ;  and  if  you  want  to 
puzzle  your  brain  with  the  metaphysics  of  the  Germans,  you  can  buy 
their  works  cheaji  enough.'  When  I  told  him  that  I  was  to  be  absent 
only  three  or  four  months  from  home,  and  that  all  but  a  fortnight  of  it 
would  be  passed  in  England,  he  said  I  had  decided  wisely.  '  Come  to 
Rydal  Mount,'  said  he,  '  and  I  will  show  you  some  beautiful  scenery, 
well  worth  a  little  trouble  to  view.'  Mr.  Wordsworth  left  the  house 
before  we  did.  Mr.  Rogers  gave  us  so  cordial  and  pressing  an  invita- 
tion to  breakfast  with  him  next  Monday  [the  28th  of  April],  that 
we  unhesitatingly  accepted.  .  .  . 

"  Breakfasted  with  Samuel  Rogers  the  poet.  This  delightful  old 
gentleman  had  invited  Mr.  Brown  and  me  to  come  this  morning,  and 
he  received  us  very  cordially.  It  was  a  great  privilege  to  sit  beside 
him  and  listen  to  his  anecdotes,  and  talk  with  him  about  the  authors  of 
England,  with  whom  he  had  been  so  long  on  terras  of  the  closest  friend- 
ship and  intimacy.  Mr.  Rogers  has  never  been  married.  He  does  the 
honors  of  the  table  with  ease  and  grate.  There  were  numerous 
little  choice  dishes,  which  he  gave  an  account  of,  as  they  were  served 
up,  giving  us  the  history  of  each.  He  is  constantly  receiving  presents 
from  some  of  his  numerous  friends.  This  morning  he  had  plovers'  eggs 
served  up  on  sea-weed,  a  present  from  the  South  of  France  ;  oranges 
from  Malta,  whose  fragrance  and  beauty  surpassed  any  thing  of  the  kind 
I  had  ever  seen;  sweetmeats  from  Turkey,  marmalade  from  Scotland, 
and  Dutch  bread.  Mr.  Rogers  spoke  very  freely  of  his  contemporaries. 
Coleridge  was  an  intimate  friend.  He  was  a  remarkable  man  in  con- 
versation, but  had  a  bad  temper.  He  did  not  live  with  his  wife  for 
many  years  before  he  died.  He  spoke  warmly  of  Roscoe,  with  whom 
he  was  acquainted.  Byron,  Southey,  and  Campbell  were  frequent 
visitors  at  Rogers's :  I  wish  I  could  remember  a  tithe  of  what  he  said 
about  them.  Rogers  has  always  felt  a  deep  interest  in  our  country. 
His  father  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  Colonies  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. When  the  news  came  to  London  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  he 
sent  for  his  tailor,  and  ordered  a  suit  of  black.  On  the  tailor  asking 
if  he  had  lost  any  friend,  he  answered,  — '  Yes,  many  dear  American 
friends  at  the  Battle  of  Lexington  ;  and  I  shall  w^ear  black  for  them  as 
long  as  I  live.' 

"  Rogers  said  that  in  1790  (I  think  it  was,  perhaps,  1791  or  2)  he  was 
one  of  a  dinner-party  of  twelve  at  Paris,  —  nine  of  whom,  within  a  year 
or  two,  died  a  violent  death !    He  spoke  of  our  American  authors. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


27. 

< 


Washington  Irving  was  of  course  at  the  head  of  our  prose-writers, 
Bryant,  at  the  head  of  the  poets.  Halleck  was  held  high  in  his  esteem. 
He  said  nothing  of  Dana  the  poet,  but  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of 
the  work  of  K.  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  '  Two  Years  before  the  Mast.'  Mr. 
Rogers's  house  is  a  perfect  museum  of  curiosities,  yet  all  arranged  in 
good  taste.  He  has  some  exquisitely  beautiful  paintings,  originals  by 
the  Old  Masters.  Besides  some  of  the  choice  works  of  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds and  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  I  saw  the  original  bust  of  Pope,  by 
Roubilliac,  which  Flaxman  told  Rogers  his  father  had  seen  more  than  a 
century  ago  in  the  studio  of  the  artist.  Among  the  autographs  were  a 
letter  of  Dr.  Franklin  to  Washington,  and  one  from  Washington  to 
Alexander  Hamilton.  I  saw  the  original  drawings  from  which  the 
engravings  were  taken  in  the  '  Poems  '  and  '  Italy.'  In  the  library  were 
some  hook  rarities,  —  the  first  Aldus,  the  first  edition  of  the  '  Faerie 
Queene,'  and  the  first  edition  of  '  Paradise  Lost ' ;  but  the  chief  orna- 
ment of  the  library  was  a  little  certificate  neatly  framed  and  hung 
upon  the  wall,  which  is  nothing  less  than  the  original  contract  of 
Milton  with  his  printer  for  the  copyright  of  '  Paradise  Lost.' 

"  Mr.  Rogers  inquired  particularly  what  places  we  had  visited  in  Lon- 
don, and  gave  us  a  memorandum  of  those  worth  seeing  on  account  of 
their  historical  associations.  We  left  him  between  eleven  and  twelve 
o'clock,  having  had  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  delightful  visits 
imaginable." 

Mr.  Livermore  also  visited  Sir  Thomas  Grenville,  and  saw 
his  magnificeDt  library,  which  has  since  been  transferred  to 
the  British  Museum,  and  now  forms  one  of  the  greatest  at- 
tractions of  that  institution.  In  the  British  Museum  he  saw 
many  Biblical  rarities,  which  gave  new  inspiration  to  his  in- 
terest in  the  history  of  the  early  publication  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  in  general  bibliography. 

His  visits  to  Oxford,  to  Cambridge,  and  to  Althorp,  where 
he  saw  the  unrivalled  collection  of  Earl  Spencer,  made  more 
famous  by  the  description  in  Dibdin's  luxurious  volumes,  are 
all  eloquently  set  forth  in  his  journal. 

Mr.  Everett  was  at  this  time  our  minister  in  London  ;  and 
he  was  very  attentive  in  affording  Mr.  Livermore,  by  means 


.28 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


of  letters  and  in  other  ways,  every  facility  for  accomplishing 
the  objects  of  his  tour."^ 

The  gay  city  of  Paris  had  fewer  attractions  for  Mr.  Liver- 
more.  He  could  not  speak  the  language,  nor  could  he 
become  reconciled  to  the  apparent  desecration  of  the  Sabb'ath, 
in  the  open  shops  and  places  of  amusement.  The  brilliant 
spectacles  which  everywhere  arrest  the  eye  of  the  stranger 
in  that  city  were  not  unobserved  by  him,  and  were  elo- 
quently described  in  his  letters  to  his  family ;  but  every- 
thing was  foreign  to  his  principles,  and  to  his  tastes. 
England  had  the  greater  charm  for  him,  and  in  after  life 
he  derived  the  highest  satisfaction  from  the  recollection 
of  this  visit  to  the  mother  country.  He  arrived  home,  on 
the  3d  of  July,  after  an  absence  of  about  three  months. 
The  last  thing  before  embarking  at  Liverpool,  he  says,  —  "I 
went  to  the  grave  of  Roscoe,  and  brought  away  a  sprig  of 
sweetbrier  and  some  ivy  leaves." 

The  previous  year  he  had  ordered  from  Liverpool  two  or 
three  copies  of  the  bust  of  Roscoe,  in  plaster.  They  could 
not  then  be  obtained  in  this  country.  One  of  them  was  placed 
in  the  vestibule  of  his  house,  where  it  has  since  stood.  One 
was  presented  to  Harvard  College,  and  it  now  stands  in  Gore 
Hall.  When  the  committee  of  the  Historical  Society  were  fit- 
ting up  a  room  to  receive  Mr.  Dowse's  library,  and  were  plac- 
ing busts  of  distinguished  authors  over  the  bookcases,  Mr. 
Livermore  requested  that  a  bust  of  Roscoe  might  be  of  the 
number. 

Mr.  Livermore  was  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  learn- 
ing; and  the  College  in  his  neighborhood  was  as  dear  to  him 
as  though  he  had  passed  the  four  years  as  an  undergraduate 

*  While  in  London,  Mr.  Livermore  had  the  opportunity,  through  his  friend  Mr. 
Brown,  of  seeing  the  rare  privnte  collections  of  books  and  manuscripts,  belonging  to  the 
eminent  booksellers,  Mr.  Pickering  and  Mr.  Murray;  and  he  describes  them  at  length. 

Among  the  Americans  whom  lie  was  constantly  in  the  habit  of  meeting  in  London 
were  the  late  Rev.  Henry  Colman  and  Dr.  Samuel  Parkman;  also  our  present  associate, 
Mr.  Saltonstall. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


29 


within  her  walls,  and  could  call  her  Jlma  Mater.  He  was 
now  chosen  by  the  Board  of  Overseers  a  member  of  the  Library 
Committee,  and  continued  to  hold  that  position,  by  annual 
election,  till  his  death ;  being  most  of  the  time  the  Secretary 
of  the  Committee.  When  in  England,  he  had  formed  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Everett ;  and  he  regarded  it  as  most 
fortunate  for  Harvard  College  when  that  eminent  scholar  was 
called  to  its  Presidency.  He  was  present  at  the  inauguration 
services,  which  took  place  on  the  30th  of  April,  1846,  and 
under  this  date  thus  writes  in  his  diary  :  — 

"  It  was  a  great  day  for  Cambridge,  for  Harvard  University,  for  the 
cause  of  literature  and  learning  in  our  country.  The  inauguration  of 
Edward  Everett  as  President  of  Harvard  University  was  an  event  to 
fill  every  heart  with  joy  ;  i.e.,  every  heart  that  beats  with  the  love  of  ex- 
cellence and  talent.  There  was  a  large  audience  at  the  church,  every 
seat  and  stand  was  occupied,  and  four  times  as  many  would  have  been 
present,  if  the  building  could  have  held  them.  I  was  very  fortunate  in 
having  a  comfortable  place  during  all  the  exercises  at  the  church.  As 
a  member  of  the  Examining  Committee  on  the  Library,  the  place  ap- 
pointed me  in  the  procession  was  just  after  the  Overseers  ;  and  I  had  a 
seat  on  the  platform  at  the  church,  and  a  good  place  at  the  table  for 
dinner.  E.  A.  Crowninshield  was  my  companion  in  the  procession  and 
at  dinner ;  I  found  him  by  appointment  at  Owen's,  before  the  procession 
was  formed.  We  went  to  the  Library  at  a  little  past  ten  o'clock,  and  at 
eleven  the  procession  started.  The  services  at  the  church  were  all  of  a 
high  order.  They  were  as  follows  —  Introductory  prayer,  by  Rev.  James 
Walker,  D.  D. ;  address  and  delivery  of  the  College  charter,  seal,  and 
keys,  by  His  Excellency,  George  N.  Briggs  ;  reply  to  the  Governor,  by 
the  President  elect ;  a  Latin  oration,  by  George  M.  Lane,  of  Cambridge- 
port  ;  hymn,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Flint ;  and  then  an  elegant,  profound,  and  in- 
imitable address  by  the  President.  I  had  often  heard  Mr.  Everett 
before,  but  I  believe  that  of  to-day  surpassed  all  his  previous  productions. 
Lane's  performance  was  very  creditable,  and  the  Governor's  marked 
by  his  usual  good  sense  and  propriety.  There  were  many  distinguished 
persons  present ;  when  Daniel  Webster  came  forward  on  the  platform, 
he  was  greeted  by  tremendous  applause."*    The  services  at  church  were 

*  The  sudden  appearance  of  Mr.  Webster  on  the  platform  on  tliis  occasion  (in  the 
First  Parish  Church),  approaching  from  behind,  at  the  entrance  through  tlie  pulpit,  and 

5 


30 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVr]RMORE. 


over  a  little  before  two  o'clock ;  at  half  past  two  the  procession  re- 
formed at  Gore  Hall,  and  proceeded  to  Harvard  Hall  for  dinner. 
About  five  hundred  and  fifty  sat  down  to  the  table.  My  neighbors  were 
Crowninshield,  Hillard,  Bowen,  Ellis,  and  Bowditch. 

"  Mr.  Everett  presided  v^ith  great  dignity  and  grace  at  the  table.  A 
blessing  was  asked  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sharp,  and  thanks  returned  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Woods,  President  of  Bowdoin  College.  Speeches  were  made  by 
President  Everett,  Ex-President  Quincy,  Daniel  Webster,  a  humorous 
poem  by  Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes,  speeches  by  R.  C.  Winthrop,  J.  Quincy, 
Jr.,  President  Hitchcock  of  Amherst,  and  Professor  Silliman  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, and  George  S.  Hillard  of  Boston.  At  half  past  five  o'clock  the 
company  left  the  hall.  Mr.  Everett  invited  all  to  visit  him  at  his 
house." 

The  "  Cambridge  Chronicle,"  a  weekly  newspaper,  Avas 
started  in  Cambridgeport  in  1846  ;  and  Mr.  Livermore,  partly 
to  assist  the  proprietor,  and  partly  to  aid  in  securing  a  good 
local  paper,  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  its  columns.  He 
was  a  graceful  and  forcible  writer  ;  his  opinions  on  whatever 
subject  were  never  doubtfully  expressed,  and  his  historical 
investigations  were  thorough  and  exhaustive.    Many  of  the 

the  reception  given  to  him,  are  thus  described  by  our  associate,  Mr.  Dana,  in  his 
"  Address  on  the  Life  and  Services  of  Edward  Everett,"  delivered  before  tlie  muni- 
cipal authorities  and  citizens  of  Cambridge,  Feb.  22,  1865. 

"  On  this  occasion,  there  was  an  occurrence  which  put  suddenly  to  the  severest  test  the 
equanimity  and  ready  resources  of  Mr.  Everett.  The  day  and  place  were  his,  and  his  only. 
The  crowded  assembly, waited  for  his  word.  He  rose,  and  advanced  to  the  front  of  the 
platform,  and  was  received  with  gratifying  applause.  As  he  was  about  to  begin,  the 
applause  received  a  sudden  and  marked  acceleration,  and  rose  higher  and  higher  into 
a  tumult  of  cheers.  Mr.  Everett  felt  that  something  more  than  his  welcome  had 
caused  this;  and  turning,  he  saw,  just  at  that  opening  behind  your  seat,  Mr.  Mayor, 
the  majestic  presence  of  Mr.  Webster!  The  reception  of  Mr.  Webster  had  additional 
force  given  to  it  from  the  fact  that  he  had  just  returned  from  his  conflict  in  Congress 
with  Cliarles  Jared  Ingersoll,  who  had  made  an  attack  on  his  character,  and  that  this  his 
first  appearance  among  us  since  was  altogether  unexpected.  I  had  heard  Mr.  Everett's 
readiness  of  resource  called  in  question.  I  looked  —  all  must  have  looked  —  to  see  how 
he  would  meet  this  embarrassment.  He  turned  again  to  the  audience,  cast  his  eyes 
slowly  round  the  assembly,  with  a  look  of  the  utmost  gratification  seemed  to  gather 
their  applause  in  his  arms,  and,  turning  about,  to  lay  it  ministerially  at  the  feet 
of  Mr.  Webster,  said  to  him,  as  I  remember,  '  I  wish,  Sir,  that  I  could  at  once  assert 
the  authority  that  has  just  been  conferred  upon  me,  and,  aucloritate  mild  commissd 
declare  to  tlie  audience,  exptctatur  oratio  in  lingua  vernnculd  a  Webster.  But  I  suppose, 
Sk',  your  convenience  and  the  arrangements  made  by  others,  render  it  expedient  that  I 
should  speak  myself,  —  at  least,  at  first.'  " 


MEMOIR  OF   GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


31 


book-notices  which  appeared  in  this  journal  for  a  number  of 
years,  were  from  his  pen. 

On  Monday  the  6th  of  December,  1847,  the  Hon.  R.  C.  Win- 
throp  took  the  chair  as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States,  to  which  office  he  had  just  been  elected  ; 
and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  on  that  occasion,  he  made 
use  of  the  following  language :  May  I  not  reasonably 
implore,  with  something  more  than  common  fervency,  upon 
your  labors  and  upon  my  own,  the  blessing  of  that  Almighty 
Power,  whose  recorded  attribute  it  is,  that  '  He  maketh  men 
to  be  of  one  mind  in  a  house  Supposing  the  concluding 

words  to  be  Scriptural,  many  asked  where  they  were  to  be 
found.  The  newspapers  of  New  York  and  Boston  inquired 
the  Speaker's  authority  for  the  apt  quotation,  —  some  asserting 
that  it  was  not  in  the  Bible  at  all,  and  not  a  few  learned 
divines  being  greatly  puzzled.  It  was  finally  found  to  have 
been  taken  from  the  Psalter.  In  an  article  contributed  to 
the  "  Cambridge  Chronicle,''  of  the  23d  of  December,  Mr. 
Livermore  explained  that  the  passage  in  the  Received  Version 
(Psalm  Ixviii.  6),  which  reads  ^'  God  setteth  the  solitary  in 
families,"  is  rendered  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as 
given  by  Mr.  Winthrop,  "  Grod  maketh  men  to  be  of  one 
mind  in  a  house."  It  is  from  the  Coverdale  version  of 
1535,  and  appears  there  in  Psalm  Ixvii.  It  is  substantially 
according  to  the  Cranmer  Bible,  to  which  the  Psalter  in 
the  Prayer-Book  generally  conforms.  Mr.  Winthrop  took 
the  passage  cited  from  the  Prayer-Book,  his  eye  happening 
to  rest  upon  it  the  day  before  at  church.  In  the  article  re- 
ferred to,  Mr.  Livermore  gave  ten  several  versions  of  this 
passage. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  accuracy  and  minuteness  of  his 
knowledge  of  the  various  editions  of  the  Scriptures  is  shown 
in  some  papers  which  he  communicated  to  the  "  Boston 
Daily  Advertiser,"  of  July  12th,  and  Oct.  19th,  1849,  in  reply 


*  Addresses  and  Speeches,  Boston,  1852,  p.  610. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


to  Bishop  Chase,  of  Illinois,  who  had  brought  the  charge 
against  Cromwell  and  the  Puritans  of  having  corrupted  the 
sacred  text.  The  allegation  was,  that  Cromwell,  having  su- 
preme power,  had  authorized  the  change  of  the  word  we  "  —  in 
Acts  vi.  3,  relating  to  the  appointment  of  the  seven  deacons  — 
to  "  ye,"  in  order  to  favor  the  views  of  the  Independents.  The 
Bishop  indulged  in  many  other  loose  statements,  by  no  means 
creditable  either  to  his  knowledge  or  to  his  taste.  Among 
other  things,  he  said  that  the  ^'  Cambridge  Platform  of  1648 
was  based  upon  this  noted  error."  Mr.  Livermore,  in  reply  to 
the  Bishop,  in  the  papers  referred  to,  show^ed,  by  respectable 
Episcopalian  authority,  that  the  edition  of  the  Bible  in  which 
this  error  first  appeared  was  printed  in  1638,  while  Laud  and 
Charles  were  ascendant  in  Church  and  State,  —  and  that  the 
next  edition  known  to  contain  it  was  printed  after  the  Restora- 
tion.   It  was  simply  a  typographical  error. 

In  the  "  Cambridge  Chronicle  "  of  the  5th  of  April,  1849,  he 
commenced  a  series  of  eight  articles  on  the  New-England 
Primer,  which  were  published  over  the  signature  of  The 
Antiquary."  Those  papers  were  afterwards  gathered  into  a 
thin  volume  (of  which  twelve  copies  only  were  issued  as  gifts 
to  friends),  with  this  title:  The  Origin,  History,  and  Char- 
acter of  the  New-England  Primer."  They  showed  much 
research  and  curious  learning,  and  attracted  considerable  at- 
tention. This  Society  has  one  of  these  twelve  copies  in  its 
Library. 

Among  the  minor  questions  discussed  in  these  papers  on 
the  New-England  Primer  was  one  concerning  the  number  of 
John  Rogers's  children.  The  equivocal  statement  of  the 
Primer,  that  there  were  nine  small  children  and  one  at  the 
breast,"  was  disputed  by  Mr.  Livermore,  who  contended  that 
the  number  of  the  Martyr's  children  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  eleven  —  citing  Fox,  the  martyrologist,  for  his  authority. 
His  positions  were  assailed  by  some  humorous  communica- 
tions in  the  '^Boston  Transcript,"  of  July  16th  and  24th,-  to 
which  he  replied. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


33 


While  a  member  of  the  School  Committee,  Mr.  Livermore 
contributed  to  the  Chronicle  "  an  interesting  article  on  the 
Public  Schools  in  Cambridge,"  going  back  to Master  Ea- 
ton's Flogging  School/'  and  citing  the  early  colonial  laws  on 
the  subject  of  schools  in  Massachusetts.  This  article  was 
copied  into  the  ^'  Common-School  Journal"  for  Aug.  1,  1848. 
The  next  year  he  prepared  and  printed  "  A  Brief  Account 
of  the  Dana-Hill  Public  Schools,  Cambridge,  1849." 

A  collection  of  books  which  formerly  belonged  to  Washing- 
ton was  offered  for  sale  this  year,  and  was  bought  by  a  num- 
ber of  gentlemen,  and  presented  to  the  Boston  Atheuceum. 
Mr.  Livermore  was  not  only  one  of  the  subscribers  to  the  fund 
for  the  purchase  of  these  books,  but  he  was  one  of  a  few 
persons  who  labored  persistently  for  the  securing  of  this 
treasure.*  Subsequently,  as  a  trustee  of  Mr.  Dowse's  estate, 
he  communicated  to  the  "  Athenseum  "  the  sum  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars  to  defray  the  expense  of  a  catalogue  for  this 
collection,  and  for  increasing  it.  Everything  relating  to  the 
history  and  character  of  Washington  had  an  interest  for  Mr. 
Livermore.  His  noble  library  contains  many  memorials  of  the 
Father  of  his  Country:  and  among  the  latest  accessions  to 
it,  not  many  weeks  before  his  decease,  were  several  sermons 
preached  on  the  death  of  Washington,  of  whicli  he  already 
possessed  over  one  hundred. 

In  November,  1849,  Mr.  Livermore  was  elected  a  member 
of  this  Society ;  and  a  most  valuable  member  did  he  prove, 
laboring  for  its  welfare,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  to  the 
last.  Tlie  first  volume  of  Proceedings  "  was  issued  under 
his  superintending  care,  assisted  by  his  friend  and  associate 
on  the  Committee  of  Publication,  the  Rev.  Chandler  Bobbins, 
D.  D.  He  continued  a  member  of  that  Committee  till  his 
death ;  and  was  also  for  a  number  of  years  a  most  influential 
member  of  the  Standing  Committee.    Other  important  ser- 

*  See  Quincy's  Historj-  of  the  Boston  Atlieiifeiim,  p.  187,  for  a  description  of  these 
books. 


34 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE, 


vices  which  he  rendered  the  Society  will  be  noticed  farther 
on.  The  American  Antiquarian  Society  had,  the  month  be- 
fore, enrolled  him  among  its  members. 

The  "  Christian  Examiner  "  for  November,  this  year,  con- 
tained an  article  by  Mr.  Livermore,  written  at  the  request  of 
Dr.  Ellis,  one  of  the  editors  of  that  journal,  on  the  "  Publication 
and  Circulation  of  the  Scriptures";  being  a  review  of  the  Rev. 
W.  P.  Strickland's  "  History  of  the  American  Bible  Society." 
This  paper  gave  abundant  evidence  of  his  large  information  on 
the  subject  of  the  translation  and  circulation  of  the  Bible ; 
and  contains  a  strong  protest  against  "  the  absurd  attempt  " 
to  adapt  a  version  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  capacities  of  the 
ignorant  and  almost  barbarous  races,  which  was  made  by 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  when  they  printed  a 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  for  the  English  negroes  in 
Surinam :  — 

"  These  negroes,"  he  says,  "  have  no  distinct  language  ;  but  speak 
what  is  called  '  talkee-talkee,'  a  strange  lingo,  compounded  of  original 
African  words,  of  clipped  and  softened  English  words,  and  of  vio- 
lently treated  Portuguese  words.  Their  missionaries,  the  Moravians, 
instead  of  attempting  to  teach  the  negroes  pure  English  or  Dutch, 
recommended  and  urged  the  Bible  Society  to  print  an  edition  of  the 
New  Testament  from  a  manuscript  version  which  had  long  been  in 
use  at  Surinam,  in  the  abommahle  patois  spoken  by  the  slaves.  Great 
benefit,  ii  was  predicted,  would  result  to  the  missionaries  and  their  con- 
verts from  the  undertaking,  though  the  Society  brought  upon  itself  smart 
censures  and  much  ridicule  for  the  seemingly  irreverent  and  ludicrous 
character  of  the  volume  which  they  published.  It  was  very  elegantly 
printed  in  octavo  form,  large  type,  in  London,  in  1829.  Nearly  all 
the  copies  were  transmitted  to  the  people  for  whose  use  they  were 
prepared,  and  their  arrival  and  distribution  among  the  negroes  caused 
great  excitement.  A  very  few  copies  were  retained  in  England,  as 
bibliographical  and  philological  curiosities,  and  they  have  now  become 
very  scarce.  One  of  them  was  recently  offered  to  the  public,  in 
London,  at  the  sale  of  the  library  of  the  late  Duke  of  Sussex,  and  was 
sold  for  three  pounds  ten  shillings.  Its  original  cost  could  not  liave 
exceeded  two  or  three  shillings. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


35 


"  We  have  a  copy  of  this  extraordinary  volume  of  gibberish  before 
us,  and  have  looked  it  over  for  the  purpose  of  finding  a  specimen  which 
shall  have  in  it  nothing  more  offensive  than  what  characterizes  the 
whole  of  the  work.  The  reader  may  form  some  just  idea  of  what 
specimens  might  be  selected,  when  he  is  told  that  the  word  virgin  is 
rendered,  in  this  version,  "  wan  njoe  wendje." 

"  We  will  take  a  few  verses  from  the  benedictions,  Matt.  v. :  — 

"  *  1.  Ma  teh  Jesus  si  da  piple,  a  go  na  wan  bergi  tappo,  a  go  sidom,  en  dem 

discipel  va  hem  kom  klossibei  na  hem. 
"  *  2.  En  a  hoppo  hem  moefFe,  a  leri  dem,  a  takki : 

"  *  3.  Boenne  heddi  va  dem,  dissi  de  poti  na  hatti :  bikasi  Gadokondre  do 
vo  dem. 

"*4.  Boenne  heddi  va  dem,  dissi  de  sari  na  hatti:  bikasi  hatti  va  dem  sa 
kom-e.* 

"  Which  we  may  venture  to  translate  half-way  back  again  into 
English,  as  follows  :  — 

"  '  1.  But  when  Jesus  see  the  people,  he  go  after  one  mountain-top,  he  go  sit 

down,  and  them  disciple  for  him  come  close  by  after  him. 
"  '  2.  And  he  open  him  moutli,  and  learn  them,  and  talk  : 
"  '  3.  Good  is  it  for  them,  these  the  pretty  in  heart,  because  God's  country  is 
for  them. 

"  '  4.  Good  is  it  for  them,  these  the  sorry  in  heart,  because  heart  for  them  so 
cheery.'  " 

In  a  letter  to  John  Allan,  of  New  York,  the  disting-uished 
antiquary,  in  December  of  this  year,  Mr.  Livermore  expressed 
his  intention  of  printing,  for  private  distribution,  some  Remi- 
niscences of  a  too  short,  but  very  pleasant  acquaintance  with 
Thomas  Frognall  Dibdin."  This  purpose,  however,  was  never 
fulfilled. 

In  the  "  North-American  Review,"  for  July,  1850,  Mr.  Liv- 
ermore contributed  an  article  on  Public  Libraries,  contain- 
ing a  large  amount  of  curious  and  valuable  information 
qn  the  subject,  both  as  regards  this  country  and  Europe. 
The  scheme  of  international  exchanges  of  books,  inaugurated 
by  M.  Vattemare,  was  also  discussed.  Mr.  Livermore  had 
no  confidence  in  M.  Vattemare,  and  regarded  his  scheme  as 
visionary.    The  great  subject  of  a  catalogue,  which  had  just 


36 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


before  agitated  the  minds  of  the  trustees  of  the  British 
Museum,  is  dwelt  upon  ;  and  the  conflicting  views  drawn  out 
by  the  examining  committees  of  Parliament  laid  before 
the  reader.  Two  of  the  books  reviewed  in  this  article  were 
the  "  Report  from  the  Select  Committee  on  Public  Libra- 
ries," and  the  Report  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  Constitution  and  Government  of  the  British 
Museum." 

A  few  months  afterwards,  a  volume  of  Chambers's  "  Papers 
for  the  People  "  was  issued  in  Edinburgh,  containing  a  paper 
on  Public  Libraries,"  which  was  made  up  from  Mr.  Liver- 
more's  article,  a  former  article  from  the  North  American," 
written  by  our  Corresponding  Member,  Professor  George 
Washington  Greene,  and  a  third  paper  from  another  source, — 
no  acknowledgment  whatever  being  made  by  the  Edinburgh 
publishers. 

This  year  Mr.  Livermore  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the 
State  Library ;  and  while  a  member  of  this  board,  he  had  an 
opportunity  of  testing  M.  Vattemare's  system  of  exchanges. 
His  views  as  to  the  benefit  accruing  to  the  State  therefrom 
were  briefly  expressed  a  few  years  later  in  the  "  History  of 
the  State  Library,"  drawn  up  by  the  Librarian,  and  prefixed 
to  the  Catalogue  published  in  1858. 

In  1850,  Harvard  College  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  ;  and,  the  same  year,  he  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society. 

Mr.  Livermore's  library  at  this  time  had  become  a  most 
valuable  one ;  and  his  thorough  habits  of  investigation  had 
made  him  an  authority  on  those  subjects  that  specially 
engaged  his  thoughts.  A  paper  on  ^'  Libraries  in  Boston 
and  its  Vicinity,"  in  the  "  Bibliotheca  Sacra,"  for  January, 
1850,  contains  a  notice  of  Mr.  Livermore's  collection,  and 
mentions  many  of  its  rare  works.  His  library  was  then 
estimated  to  comprise  "  about  three  thousand  volumes."  It 
was  largely  increased  during  the  fifteen  years  following. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE.  37 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1851,  there  appeared  in  the 
"  New- York  Evening  Post/'  under  the  signature  of  Friar 
Lupin/'  a  series  of  articles  commenting  on  the  manner  in 
which  Mr.  Sparks  had  edited  the  Writings  of  Washington.  He 
was  charged  with  not  being  faithful  to  the  original  text 
of  Washington's  letters.  The  charge  was  based  on  a  com- 
parison of  some  of  the  letters  as  printed  by  Mr.  Sparks  with 
the  same  letters  as  published  by  Mr.  William  B.  Reed, 
of  Philadelphia,  from  the  originals  in  his  possession.  In 
the  ^'  Cambridge  Chronicle,"  of  the  20th  of  February  of  that 
year,  Mr.  Livermore  came  out  with  an  article  in  defence  of 
Mr.  Sparks,  quoting  largely  from  his  Preface  to  Washington's 
Writings,  to  show  the  plan  on  which  he  had  prepared 
that  work.  The  matter  assumed  graver  proportions  when 
the  charges  of  the  writer  in  the  "  New- York  Evening  Post " 
were  adopted  by  Lord  Mahon,  who  accused  Mr.  Sparks  of 
"  tampering  with  the  truth  of  History."  ^ 

In  the  Christian  Examiner,"  for  July,  1851,  appeared  an 
article  from  Mr.  Livermore's  pen,  entitled  "  John  Wycliffe 
and  the  first  English  Bible  " ;  which  no  one  can  read  without 
seeing  how  thoroughly  Mr.  Livermore's  mind  was  possessed 
of  all  the  curious  learning  appertaining  to  a  full  understand- 
ing of  the  subject. 

Mr.  Livermore  was  now  becoming  well  known  to  our  schol- 
ars, as  a  man  of  large  acquirements  in  certain  departments  of 
learning  ;  and  his  simple,  frank,  and  winning  manners  caused 
his  acquaintance  to  be  sought  by  those  who  sympathized  with 
his  tastes,  or  who  desired  to  profit  by  his  intimate  knowledge 
of  books,  or  by  his  words  of  counsel.  He  numbered  among 
his  correspondents  many  eminent  scholars  and  bibliographers, 
both  in  this  country  and  in  England.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  Francis  Fry,  F.  S.  A.,  of  Cotham,  Bristol,  the  edi- 


*  An  excellent  treatment  of  this  whole  question,  in  defence  of  the  editor  of  Wash- 
ington's Writings,  may  be  seen  in  the  Memoir  of  Mr.  Sparks  by  our  associate,  Dr.  Ellis, 
in  this  volume,  at  pages  261-267. 

6 


38 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


tor  of  the  elegant  new  edition,  printed  in  1862  in  facsimile, 
of  Tyndale's  New  Testament  of  1526,  in  the  library  of  the 
Baptist  College  in  Bristol.  Mr.  Fry  was  the  editor  of  other 
book  rarities,  and  usually  had  a  few  copies  struck  off  on  parch- 
ment or  vellum  for  private  distribution. 

The  late  Rev.  Christopher  Anderson,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh, 
author  of  the  Annals /of  the  English  Bible,"  London,  1845, 
was  also  a  valued  correspondent.  Mr.  Livermore  formed  his 
acquaintance  while  in  London. 

With  the  lamented  Professor  Jewett,  formerly  Librarian 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  in  Washington,  and  more  recently 
of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  Mr.  Livermore  held  the  most 
agreeable  relations.  At  the  time  of  the  controversy  respect- 
ing the  distribution  of  the  income  of  the  Smithsonian  fund, 
Mr.  Livermore  entered  warmly  into  the  question,  sympathiz- 
ing entirely  with  Professor  Jewett  and  his  friends,  and  using 
all  his  influence  to  prevent  what  he  considered  a  perversion 
of  the  trust. 

Of  the  late  George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  the  adopted 
son  of  General  Washington,  who  lived  at  Arlington  House," 
near  Alexandria,  Ya.,  Mr.  Livermore  was  a  frequent  corre- 
spondent, as  he  had  been  his  guest."^  Mr.  Custis  was  a  gran- 
diloquent old  man,  but  warm-hearted  and  hospitable  to  all 
who  visited  the  shades  of  Arlington,"  where  were  treasured 
with  care  many  interesting  memorials  of  his  illustrious  rela- 
tive. His  Recollections  and  Private  Memoirs  of  Washing- 
ton "  was  a  posthumous  publication. 

About  this  time  he  is  found  applying  his  accurate  learning 
to  the  correction  of  what  he  regarded  as  some  singular  errors 
of  Mr.  Bancroft,  relative  to  the  publication  of  the  Scriptures 
in  this  country  before  the  American  Revolution.    His  crit- 

*  Others,  eminent  book-collectors,  who  were  also  intellij;ent  bibhographers,  might 
be  named, by  whom  the  memory  of  iMr.  Livermore  will  always  be  held  dear.  Mr.  James 
Lenox,  of  New  York;  Mr.  John  Carter  Brown  and  Mr.  John  Russell  Bartlett,  of 
Providence;  Mr.  George  Brinley  and  Mr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  of  Hartford,  —  were 
among  his  valued  friends  and  correspondents. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


39 


icism  appeared  in  the  "  Boston  Daily  Advertiser/'  of  the 
18th  of  January,  1853,  and  relates  to  some  statements  in 
Chapter  XII.  Volume  Y.  of  the  first  edition  of  Bancroft's 
History  of  the  United  States."  In  subsequent  issues  of 
that  volume,  large  alterations  in  the  foot  note  will  be  found  at 
this  place. 

Mr.  Livermore's  health  was  almost  always  poor.  He 
suffered  greatly  from  headache  all  his  life.  ^'  I  wonder,"  he 
would  say,  "  if  blockheads  ever  ache."  He  remarks  that 
he  has  seen  somewhere  that  disease  is  a  crime ;  and,  if  it  is 
so,  he  must  be  the  greatest  of  sinners.  In  1850,  he  was  so  ill 
that  he  contemplated  a  long  voyage.  But  he  had  an  elastic 
spirit,  and  he  commonly  soon  recovered  from  his  attacks  of 
illness,  —  at  least,  he  was  enabled  to  resume  his  usual  avo- 
cations. 

In  the  pohtical  affairs  of  his  State  and  of  the  Nation  he 
was  always  deeply  interested.  But  he  never  sought,  nor 
would  he  have  accepted,  office.  He  was  decided  in  his 
views ;  his  opinions  were  convictions ;  and  he  was  sometimes 
a  little  impatient,  and  not  always  tolerant,  of  the  opinions  of 
those  who  differed  from  him.  He  did  not  reflect  at  the  mo- 
ment that  the  dissent  of  others  from  him  was  the  exact 
measure  of  his  dissent  from  others.  But  he  was  simple,  con- 
scientious, and  constantly  striving  for  the  truth. 

He  was  ever  opposed  to  the  system  of  slavery  in  this 
country,  and  particularly  to  its  extension  ;  but,  up  to  this  time, 
he  was  equally  opposed  to  the  spirit  and  policy  of  the  Abolition- 
ists. He  felt  that  the  vehement  denunciations  in  which  they 
indulged  did  more  harm  than  good  to  the  cause,  and  that  a 
way  would  be  opened  by  Providence  for  the  peaceable  set- 
tlement of  this  agitating  question  ;  and  when  Mr.  Webster 
delivered  his  Seventh  of  March  Speech  "  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  which  fell  "  like  a  wet  sheet "  upon 
New  England,  it  met  Mr.  Livermore's  approval.  Subse- 
quently, his  views  on  the  subject  underwent  a  change.  He 


40 


MEMOIR  OP  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


began  to  feel  that  the  South,  banded  together  as  one  man, 
were  determined  to  force  tlieir  peciiHar  institution  upon  the 
National  domain ;  that,  by  stifling  freedom  of  debate  in  the 
National  Legislature,"^'  by  the  repeal  of  ordinances  enacted  for 
the  protection  of  freedom,  by  securing  decisions  in  the  Su- 
preme Court  hostile  to  liberty,  and  by  other  acts  of  a  similar 
character,  they  were,  with  the  aid  of  their  Northern  allies, 
rapidly  extending  their  power  in  the  government,  and  would 
soon  bring  the  whole  North  under  their  corrupting  influence. 
He  then  felt  that  the  only  hope  for  freedom  was  in  the  union 
of  all  manly  hearts  in  an  equally  firm  stand  against  slavery. 
As  he  felt,  so  he  acted. 

During  a  business  tour  which  he  made,  in  1852,  to  the 
West,  Mr.  Livermore  visited  Blennerhassett's  Island,  in  the 
Ohio  River,  concerning  which,  with  other  matters,  he  writes 
as  follows :  — 

"  Parkersburg,  Va.,  May  21,1852. 

"  My  dear  D  ,  —  I  wish  you  had  been  with  me  here  in  "  Old 

Virginny  "  this  pleasant  day,  and  we  would  have  rambled  together  over 
the  beautiful  island  made  forever  memorable  as  the  scene  of  Burr's 
and  Blennerhassett's  conspiracy,  and  by  the  eloquence  of  Wirt  made 
classic  as  well  as  historic  ground.  It  lies  in  the  Ohio  just  below  the 
river  Kanawha,  and  between  Parkersburg,  Va.,  and  Belpre,  Ohio.  I 
hired  a  boatman  to  take  me  in  his  skiff  to  the  island,  and  can  say  from 
actual  observation,  that  neither  eloquence  nor  poetry  can  magnify  the 
beauties  of  the  situation  beyond  the  reality.  But  few  of  the  relics  of 
improvements  by  its  former  owner  now  remain.  The  house  was 
destroyed  by  fire  between  forty  and  fifty  years  ago.  The  garden  is 
literally  all  grown  over  with  thorns.    I  cut  a  stick  for  a  cane  on  the 

*  The  attack  upon  the  Massachusetts  Senator,  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  on  the 
22d  of  May,  1856,  caused  a  deep  feeling  at  tlie  North  among  all  political  parties.  Up 
to  this  time  Mr.  Livermore  had  called  himself  a  "Webster  Whig,"  and  had  uniformly 
voted  against  his  relative,  Mr.  Burlingame,  whenever  he  had  been  a  candidate  for  any 
political  office.  But  novf  he  caused  to  be  printed,  at  his  own  expense,  the  speech  of 
Mr.  Burlingame,  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Washington  on  the  21st  of 
June,  in  "  Defence  of  Massachusetts";  and,  in  some  extra  copies,  inserted  a  "  Prefa- 
tory Note,"  not  signed,  wlierein  he  expresses  his  conviction  that  the  time  had  arrived 
when  "  consistency  to  long  cherished  principles  requir.  s  that  the  Conservative  utter 
and  defend  the  old  doctrine  of  our  illustrious  statesman,  —  'Liberty  and  Union,  now 
and  forever,  one  and  inseparable.'  "  Later  events  only  intensified  his  convictions. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


41 


spot,  and  gathered  a  few  shells  and  pebbles  from  the  beach,  to  bring 
home  as  mementoes  of  the  visit ;  and  I  left  the  place  with  sad  reflections 
on  the  misfortune  and  folly  of  those  who  leave  the  luxury  of  a  quiet 
home  for  the  ambitious  purpose  of  political  power. 

"  It  is  now  the  third  week  of  my  absence  from  home,  and  another 
week  will  elapse  before  I  can  return.  This  lias  been  the  first  day  that 
has  not  been  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  business.  I  was  detained 
here,  waiting  for  a  steamboat  to  take  me  up  the  river,  and  improved  the 
leisure  by  a  visit  to  Blennerhassett's  Island. 

"  I  procured  a  copy  of  '  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  '  on  my  way,  and  have 
read  it  with  jireat  interest.  I  agree  with  you  entirely  that  it  is  a  work 
of  great  power,  as  well  as  of  perfect  fairness.  It  must  do  much  good. 
The  subject  of  slavery  needs  only  to  be  presented  in  a  spirit  of  candor 
and  intelligence  like  this,  to  bring  all  who  are  truly  desirous  of  promot- 
ing freedom  to  common  ground.  I  wish  I  could  circulate  ten  thou- 
sand copies  of '  Uncle  Tom,'  in  the  Old  Dominion,  where  chivalry  and 
slavery  have  wrought  such  a  potent  spell,  and  almost  reduced  to  beg- 
gary a  people  possessed  of  some  of  the  greatest  natural  advantages  of 
any  in  our  fair  country. 

"  Remember  everything  that  occurs  during  my  absence,  and  come 
and  tell  me  all  when  I  get  home.  You  can,  better  than  almost  any 
one  else,  make  up  the  loss  which  I  always  feel  when  deprived  of  the 
genial  influences  of  Boston  and  Cambridge  society. 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"  George  Livermore." 

Mr.  Livermore  was  continually  adding  to  his  store  of 
Biblical  works,  and  often  found  occasion  to  make  use  of  his 
cui'ious  and  accurate  learning  in  this  department  of  bibli- 
ography. At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Bible 
Society,  in  May,  1854,  his  Excellency,  Governor  Washburn, 
made  an  address,  in  the  course  of  which  he  referred  to 
the  influence  of  the  Bible  upon  CromwelPs  soldiers.  In 
the  army,"  he  said,  "  every  man  had  a  Bible  in  his  knapsack, 
and  daily  read  it,  and  sang  the  praises  of  God  ;  and  the 
result  was  the  like  of  what  has  been  seen  in  the  history  of 
Puritanism."  In  an  article  in  the  Cambridge  Chronicle,"  of 
the  20th  of  June,  Mr.  Livermore  quoted  this  passage  from  the 
Governor's  speech,  saying  it  was  substantially  correct,  but 


42 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


not  literally  so  ;  that,  if  Cromwell's  soldiers  carried  the  Bible 
in  their  knapsacks,  it  was  not  the  whole  Bible  ;  that  The 
Soldiers'  Pocket  Bible  "  consisted  of  appropriate  selections 
from  the  Scriptures,  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  and  was  gen- 
erally buttoned  between  the  coat  and  waistcoat,  next  to  the 
heart,  —  proving,  perhaps,  sometimes,  a  defence  from  the 
weapons  of  the  enemies  of  their  bodies,  as  well  as  from  the 
Wicked  One  who  sought  to  subdue  their  souls."  He  remarked, 
that  but  few  copies  of  this  curious  Bible  had  been  preserved, 
and  that  probably  the  copy  he  possessed  was  the  only  one  in 
the  country.  He  then  gives  a  brief  description  of  it.  He  had 
had  it  some  years,  having  received  it  from  his  friend  Mr. 
Crowninshield,  to  whom  it  had  been  sent  from  London.  The 
book  was  afterwards  reprinted  by  Mr.  Livermore. 

To  afford  some  idea  of  the  character  of  Mr.  Livermore's 
library  at  this  time,  the  following  description  of  it  is  given. 
It  was  written  by  Mr.  Livermore  himself,  by  request."^ 

"  Nearly  a  quarter  part  of  the  entire  collection  consists  of  Bibles 
and  Biblical  works,  in  various  languages,  versions  and  forms,  from  the 
ancient  Hebrew  manuscript  roll,  to  the  most  modern  translation  of  our 
own  times. 

"  Among  the  manuscripts  of  interest  is  The  Pentateuch,  carefully  writ- 
ten on  thirty-six  skins  of  parchment,  and  measuring  fifty-eight  feet  in 
length,  and  one  foot  in  breadth.  This  fine  apograph  is  rolled  upon  a 
pair  of  handles,  and  enclosed  in  an  embroidered  silk  cover.  It  was 
formerly  used  in  a  Jewish  synagogue,  and  is  a  good  specimen  of  an 
ancient  volume,  or  rolled  book. 

"  Two  copies  of  the  Bible  entire,  in  the  Latin  Vulgate  version,  written 
by  monks  in  the  Middle  Ages  upon  the  most  delicate  vellum,  are  elabo- 
rately illuminated  with  beautiful  initial  letters,  figures,  and  miniatures. 
They  are  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  Each  was,  perhaps,  the 
work  of  a  whole  life. 

"  To  these  may  be  added  an  Evangelistarium,  or  selections  from  the 
Gospels,  for  the  use  of  the  church,  written  on  parchment  in  the  eighth 

*  It  should  be  stated  here,  that  Mr.  Livermore  was  largely  indebted  to  our  country- 
man and  Corresponding  Member,  Mr.  Henry  Stevens,  of  London,  for  assistance  in  pro- 
curing many  of  the  valuable  books  contained  in  his  library.  His  correspondence  with 
tliis  eminent  bibliographer  must  have  covered  a  period  of  nearly  twenty  years. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


43 


century,  seven  hundred  years  before  the  invention  of  printing,  one  of 
the  oldest  books,  if  not  the  oldest,  in  this  country.  It  was  obtained  at 
the  sale  of  the  library  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawtrey,  Provost  of  Eton. 

"  The  Book  of  Job,  a  metrical  version,  by  George  Sandys,  is  supposed 
to  be  the  original  autograph  copy  of  the  author.  It  was  formerly  in 
the  library  of  the  late  Duke  of  Sussex,  and  is  particularly  described  by 
Dr.  Pettigrew,  in  the  '  Bibliotheca  Sussexiana.' 

" Next  in  order  to  the  manuscripts  is  the  BIBLIA  PAU- 
PERUM,  a  block  book,  or  series  of  wood-cuts,  representing  Scripture 
subjects,  with  a  few  lines  of  text  coarsely  engraved  upon  the  same  page. 
The  precise  date  is  not  known,  but  bibliographers  are  generally  agreed 
in  the  opinion  that  it  was  printed  as  early  as  the  year  1440. 

"  There  is  in  this  library  a  fragment  of  the  celebrated  M  A  Z  A  R I  N 
BIBLE,  the  first  hook  ever  'printed.  Although  the  date  does  not  ap- 
pear, this  work  is  well  known  to  have  been  the  first  that  issued  from 
the  press  of  Gutenberg,  and  to  have  been  completed  in  the  year  1455. 
Mr.  L.  has  also  the  New  Testament  printed  by  Faust  in  1462,  being 
the  first  in  which  the  date  is  given,  and  quite  a  number  of  Bibles  pub- 
lished within  the  first  half-century  from  the  invention  of  printing. 
Servetus's  Bible,  published  in  Lyons,  1542,  is  a  very  rare  work.  The 
entire  edition  was  ordered  to  be  burnt,  by  the  Roman  Catholic  authori- 
ties, on  account  of  the  supposed  heretical  sentiments  contained  in  tlie 
preface  and  in  some  of  the  notes.  The  author,  in  1553,  shared  the 
same  fate  with  his  Bible.  He  was  burned  alive  for  heresy  ;  and  as 
many  of  the  Bibles  as  could  then"  be  found  were  used  to  kindle  the 
wood  at  the  time  of  his  martyrdom.  But  very  few  copies  escaped  the 
flames,  and  there  is  probably  no  other  in  this  country. 

"  Cromwell's  Soldiers'  Pocket  Bible,  of  which  only  one  other  copy  is 
known  to  be  extant,  is  a  great  curiosity.  It  consists  of  selections  from 
the  Sci  iptures,  published  in  1643,  for  the  use  of  the  army  during  tlie 
civil  wars.  Here  are  copies  of  both  editions  of  Eliot's  Indian  Bible, — 
the  first  containing  the  rare  dclication  to  King  Charles  IL,  of  wliich 
only  twenty  copies  were  printed  ;  and  a  perfect  copy  of  the  Commentary 
of  Nicholas  de  Lyra,  beautifully  printed  in  black  letter,  in  1483,  being 
the  first  work  of  the  kind  ever  published. 

"  Of  English  versions,  Mr.  L.  has  all  the  editions  of  Wyclif,  several 
of  Coverdale,  Tyndale,  Cranmer,  the  Genevan,  the  Bishops,  the  Douay, 
and  the  most  remarkable  editions  of  our  present  authorized  version, 
from  the  first  black-letter  folio  of  1611  to  the  recent  revision  of  the 
American  Bible  Society. 


44 


MEMOIR  OP  GEORGE  LTVERMORE. 


"  A  splendid  unique  large-paper  copy  of  Reeves's  Bible,  with  several 
hundred  original  v^^ater-color  illustrations,  by  Harris,  of  London,  and  a 
New  Testament  printed  entirely  in  letters  of  gold,  were  added  to  the 
collection  on  account  of  their  beauty  as  works  of  art. 

"  A  special  interest  attaches  to  some  copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  Mr. 
Livermore's  library,  on  account  of  their  former  ownership.  The  Venice 
edition  of  the  Latin  Vulgate,  1478,  was  once  the  property  of  the  un- 
fortunate Pope  Pius  VL,  and  has  his  arms  stamped  upon  the  covers. 
On  the  same  shelf  stands  Melancthon's  own  copy  of  the  Bible,  with 
numerous  notes  on  the  margins  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Reformer.  A 
copy  of  the  Geneva  version,  presented  by  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin  to 
the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Homer,  of  Newton  (from  whose  library  it  was  pur- 
chased), was  supposed  by  its  former  owners  to  have  been  the  identical 
copy  presented  by  the  printer  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  royal  arms 
can  still  be  traced  on  the  covers.  It  was  printed  in  1576.  But  the 
Bible  of  Adam  Winthrop,  of  Groton,  England,  the  father  of  the  first 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  is  more  highly  prized  by  the  present  pro- 
prietor. 

"  A  manuscript  Koran,  brought  many  years  ago  from  Turkey,  by 
Edward  Wortley  Montagu,  and  the  Book  of  Mormon,  with  the  auto- 
graph of  Joseph  Smith,  possess  an  interest  of  a  different  kind. 

"  Mr.  L.  has,  in  a  large  portfolio,  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER 
in  more  than  eight  hundred  languages  and  dialects.  This  remarkable 
work  was  printed  at  the  Imperial  Office,  in  Vienna,  and  exhibited,  as 
the  contribution  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  at  the  World's  Fair  in 
London.    Only  a  few  copies  were  allowed  to  be  sold. 

"It  maybe  mentioned  that  the  only  two  New-England  subscribers  to 
Halliwell's  magnificent  edition  of  Shakespeare,  now  publishing  in  Eng- 
land, in  twenty  folio  volumes,  and  limited  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
copies,  are  near  neighbors  to  eacli  other,  —  Mr.  Hosmer  and  Mr. 
Livermore. 

"  Mr.  Livermore  has  from  his  boyhood  been  much  interested  in  the 
subject  of  general  bibliography ;  and  he  has  collected  a  considerable 
number  of  the  best  works  on  this  subject,  including  typographical  an- 
tiquities, and  accounts  of  the  most  celebrated  public  and  private  libra- 
ries. In  this  department  may  be  found  nearly  all  the  publications  of 
Dibdin,  several  of  them  presentation  copies  from  the  author;  works 
from  the  presses  of  Gutenberg,  Faust,  Caxton,  Wynken  de  Worde, 
Pynson,  Baskerville,  Stephen  Daye,  the  first  American  printer.  Dr. 
Franklin,  and  nearly  all  the  most  famous  printers  in  Europe  and 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


45 


America;  also  privately  printed  books  from  Strawberry  Hill,  Lee 
Priory,  the  Roxburghe  and  other  clubs.  We  might  mention  many 
other  curious  and  rare  volumes.  The  larger  part  of  this  library  consists 
of  standard  works  of  English  literature,  history,  biography,  poetry,  &c., 
&c.,  —  the  best  editions  of  the  best  authors."  * 

It  may  here  be  observed,  that,  after  this  brief  and  neces- 
sarily inadequate  description  of  his  library  was  written  in 
1855,  Mr.  Livermore  made  large  additions  to  it,  not  only  of 
Biblical  works,  but  of  works  of  history  and  of  general  biblio- 
graphy. Everything  which  would  illustrate  the  history  of 
printing,  from  the  earliest  period,  interested  him.  He  refers, 
we  have  seen,  to  a  fragment  of  the  celebrated  Mazarin  Bible 
which  his  library  contained,  —  "  the  first  book  ever  printed  "  on 
movable  types.  Three  years  before  his  death,  he  purchased 
a  beautiful  copy  of  the  original  edition  of  Coverdale's  Bible, 
printed  in  1535,  the  first  edition  of  the  entire  Bible  in  English. 
It  cost  him  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds. 

A  worthy  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  James  Johnson,"  "  a 
merchant  of  the  old  school,"  was  contributed  by  Mr.  Liver- 
more  to  the  "  Boston  Daily  Advertiser,"  of  May  4th,  1855. 
A  few  copies  of  the  "  Tribute  "  were  subsequently  reprinted 
by  the  friends  of  the  deceased,  for  private  distribution. 

This  year  Mr.  Livermore  was  elected  a  member  of  the 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,"  and  he  was 
treasurer  of  that  institution  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Many  of  Mr.  Livermore's  associates  will  recall  with  pleas- 
ure the  meeting  of  the  Historical  Society  at  his  house  on  the 
evening  of  the  26th  of  June,  1856.  It  was  in  the  season  of 
strawberries ;  and  the  prolific  gardens  of  his  neighbor,  Mr. 
Hovey,  the  well-known  horticulturist,  furnished  for  the  oc- 
casion a  most  abundant  supply  of  his  choicest  varieties  of 
that  delicate  fruit.  The  luscious  ^'  seedling  "  which  bears  his 
name,  and  other  rival  descriptions  of  Cambridge  growth, 
looked  as  if  they  had  each  been  prepared  for  the  eye  of  the 


*  See  "A  Glance  at  Private  Libraries,"  by  Luther  Farnliam,  Boston,  1855. 

7 


46 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


expert,  as  candidates  for  a  prize.  It  was,  indeed,  a  "  Straw- 
berry Festival.''^ 

Mr.  Livermore's  love  of  flowers  did  not  desert  him  at  this 
time  ]  and  the  charming  floral  adornments  which  here  met 
the  eye  were  an  eloquent  commentary  on  his  exquisite  taste, 
which  was  not  confined  to  books  alone. 

Mr.  Savage,  then  late  President  of  the  Society,  and  now  its 
senior  member,  was  not  able  to  be  present;  but,  as  a  delicate 
compliment  to  his  venerated  friend,  Mr.  Livermore  caused  the 
portrait  of  him,  then  recently  painted  by  Wight  for  the  So- 
ciety's cabinet,  to  be  brought  to  his  house  and  hung  on  the 
wall  of  the  room  in  which  the  business  meeting  Avas  held. 
This  served  as  a  pleasant  reminder  of  one  whose  membership 
dates  back  to  the  year  1813,  and  who  had  for  fourteen  years 
so  faithfully  served  the  Society  as  its  chief  officer. 

As  a  part  of  the  business  of  this  meeting,  "  Mr.  Livermore 
produced  a  trunk  containing  a  large  collection  of  manuscripts 
formerly  belonging  to  the  Hon.  Judge  Davis,  and  more  re- 
cently to  Isaac  P.  Davis,  Esq.,  late  associates  of  the  Society ; 
which,  in  compliance  with  the  expressed  wish  of  the  latter, 
had  been  committed  to  Mr.  Livermore's  charge  by  Mrs.  Davis 
and  the  Hon.  William  Sturgis,  executor,  to  be  examined  and 
assorted,  previously  to  their  being  deposited  in  the  library  of 
the  Society.  Mr.  Livermore  stated  that  he  had  partially  ex- 
amined the  papers,  and  found  some  of  them  to  be  of  great 
value."  t  They  were  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  he  was 
chairman,  to  be  arranged  for  the  library  according  to  the 
views  of  the  donor.  The  volume  of  Davis  Papers  "  now 
in  the  cabinet,  comprises  this  collection. 

-*  For  the  purpose  of  illustrating  Mr.  Livermore's  thoughtful  care  in  little  things, 
which,  indeed,  make  up  the  staple  of  every  man's  life,  we  will  here  recall  the  circum- 
stance, that  there  was  enclosed  in  the  notice  of  this  meeting,  to  each  member,  a  beauti- 
fully printed  card,  which  served  not  only  as  a  "  free  pass  "  over  the  railway,  from  "  Bow- 
doin  Square"  to  his  house  on  "Dana  Hill,"  but  conveyed  the  information  that  the 
'  Business  Meeting  "  would  be  held  "  at  half-past  seven  o'clock.  Strawberries  at 
nine  o'clock.   Cars  return  at  ten  o'clock." 

t  See  Proceedings  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  for  June,  1856,  pp.  96,  97. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


47 


This  meeting  at  Mr.  Livermore's,  the  first  of  a  few  rural 
gatherings  of  the  members  as  a  society,  is  one  of  the  pleas- 
ant things  to  recall.  The  recollection  of  it  revives  the  pic- 
ture of  one  in  whom  the  graces  of  purity,  sweetness,  re- 
finement, gentleness,  and  disinterestedness,'^  to  use  the 
felicitous  language  of  Mr.  Hillard  respecting  him,  were  .mar- 
vellously combined,  —  in  the  midst  of  his  books  and  of  his 
flowers,  extending  his  warm  and  unstinted  hospitality  to  his 
associates  around  him.  The  silver  cord  by  which  he  was 
bound  to  us  is  loosed,  but  the  sweet  memories  of  the  occa- 
sion will  ever  remain  ; 

"  The  scent  of  the  roses  will  hang  round  it  still." 

Thomas  Dowse,  the  leather-dresser  of  Cambridgeport,  the 
collector  of  the  magnificent  Library,  estimated  to  have  cost 
over  forty  thousand  dollars,  was  a  near  neighbor  and  friend 
of  Mr.  Livermore.  He  was  a  bachelor,  of  a  quiet,  retiring 
disposition,  somewhat  odd  withal,  and  he  admitted  few  to 
his  intimacy.  Mr.  Livermore's  warm-hearted  disinterested- 
ness won  his  confidence,  and  his  love  and  knowledge  of 
books  made  him  a  most  desirable  companion.  As  old  age 
grew  upon  Mr.  Dowse,  and  his  infirmities  increased,  Mr. 
Livermore  made  it  a  point  to  visit  him  almost  daily.  The 
morning  after  the  meeting  of  the  Historical  Society  at  his 
house,  Mr.  Livermore  called  on  Mr  Dowse,  taking  with  him 
a  dish  of  strawberries.  The  conversation  naturally  turned 
on  the  subject  of  the  meeting  the  evening  before,  and  Mr. 
Dowse  was  much  interested  in  the  account  he  received  of  it. 
This  led  him  to  make  further  inquiries  respecting  the  Society, 
with  many  of  whose  members  he  was  already  well  acquainted. 
Soon  afterwards  Mr.  Dowse  asked  Mr.  Livermore  if  he  thought 
the  Society  would  accept  of  his  library.  He  received  en- 
couragement that  they  would.  He  then  desired  to  see  a  plan 
of  their  building,  and  the  rooms  which  they  occupied ;  and 
when  he  had  fully  decided  to  offer  his  library  to  the  accept- 


48 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIYERMORE. 


ance  of  the  Society,  Mr.  Livermore  conferred  with  the  Presi- 
dent, and  the  matter  was  soon  consummated.  The  account  of 
the  Special  Meeting  at  which  the  announcement  of  the  gift 
was  made,  and  of  that  which  was  held  on  the  transfer  of  the 
books  to  the  rooms  of  the  Society,  after  the  decease  of  Mr. 
Dowse,  the  following  year,  are  related  in  the  "  Proceedings 
for  August,  1856,  and  April,  1857.^- 

Mr.  Livermore  and  Mr.  Eben.  Dale  were  appointed  execu- 
tors and  trustees  under  Mr.  Dowse's  will.  By  this  instru- 
ment a  considerable  sum  was  left  to  the  trustees,  to  dispose 
of  according  to  their  judgment,  under  certain  general  instruc- 
tions. The  charge  for  fitting  up  the  room  now  known  as 
^'  The  Dowse  Library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society," 
amounting  to  about  three  thousand  dollars,  was  defrayed  by 
the  trustees,  who  in  addition  gave  the  Society  ten  thousand 
dollars  as  a  fund,  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  devoted  to 
the  care  and  administration  of  the  library. 

The  trustees  contributed  also  a  fund  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
for  the  establishment,  in  Cambridge,  of  a    Dowse  Listitute," 


*  Mr.  Dowse  had  had  many  plans  for  the  disposition  of  his  library,  but  he  could 
decide  on  nothing.  When  Mr.  Quincy  was  President  of  the  College,  a  proposal  Avas 
made  by  him  to  Mr.  Dowse,  that,  if  he  would  present  his  library  to  that  institution,  a 
fire-proof  building  should  be  constructed  to  receive  it,  and  other  provisions  made  for 
its  safe-keeping  for  ever;  but  ;nothing  came  of  it.  In  September,  1853,  early  in 
the  Presidency  of  Dr.  Walker,  Mr.  Dowse's  health  seemed  to  be  failing,  and  he  felt 
anxious  about  his  library,  being  at  a  loss  what  disposition  to  make  of  it,  when  Mr. 
Livermore,  on  his  behalf,  informally  conferred  with  Dr.  Walker  as  to  the  probability 
of  the  College  consenting  to  receive  it,  if  it  should  be  offered,  on  the  terms  intimated: 
namely,  that  a  sepai-ate  fire-proof  building  should  be  erected  for  it,  that  none  of  the 
volumes  should  be  taken  from  it,  &c.  Dr.  Walker,  of  course,  had  no  authority,  of  him- 
self, to  accept  or  to  decline  such  an  offer,  had  it  been  made;  and  he  had  no  wish  to 
divert  such  a  gift  from  the  College:  but  he  saw  that  the  terms  suggested  would  involve 
a  serious  expense  to  the  Corporation,  without  an  equivalent.  He,  however,  assured  Mr. 
Livermore,  that,  without  doubt,  if  the  library  should  be  presented  to  the  College, 
arrangements  would  be  made  to  give  it  a  place  by  itself  in  Gore  Hall. 

There  seemed  at  one  time  to  be  danger  that  this  collection  of  books  would  come  to 
the  hammer.  Mr.  Dowse  once  offered  to  give  it  to  Mr.  Livermore,  who,  of  course, 
declined  it.  Mr.  Dowse  finally  proposed,  as  stated  in  the  text,  to  place  his  libi-ary  in 
the  custody  of  the  Society  of  which  his  friend,  Mr.  Livermore,  was  a  prominent  mem- 
ber. This  suggestion  was  warmly  seconded  by  Mr.  Livermore,  and  to  him  is  the  Histori- 
cal Society  largely  indebted  for  the  final  disposition  made  of  this  noble  library. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


49 


for  public  lectures,  &c.  This  sum  was  paid  over  to  the  city 
of  Cambridge,  which,  in  return,  agreed  to  pay  annually,  for- 
ever, to  the  trustees  of  the  Institute,  six  hundred  dollars. 

Mr.  Dowse's  fine  collection  of  paintings  in  water-colors  was 
given  to  the  Boston  Athenasum,  of  which  institution  Mr.  Liv- 
ermore  was  a  trustee. 

It  will  not  require  a  reference  to  the  records  of  the  Soci- 
ety, to  recall  a  similar  meeting  of  the  members  to  that  just  de- 
scribed, which,  two  years  after,  was  held,  by  invitation  of  Mr. 
Longfellow,  at  his  house  in  Cambridge,  —  the  house  which  was 
for  nine  months  the  residence  and  headquarters  of  Washing- 
ton. The  meeting  was  summoned  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
17th  of  June,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
Mr.  Livermore  was  chairman  of  the  Standing  Committee  this 
year,  and  he  used  every  means,  in  co-operation  with  the  other 
officers  of  the  Society,  to  make  this  meeting  worthy  of  the 
occasion.  On  the  notices  issued  to  the  members  he  caused  to 
be  printed  a  wood-cut  impression  of  the  ancient  mansion 
where  the  meeting  was  to  be  held.  The  following  character- 
istic note  was  received  from  him  a  few  days  before  the  meet- 
ing:— 

"  Wednesday  Morning,  June  9tli. 

"  Dear  D  ,  —  Thinking  that  you  might  like  to  preserve  a  tmt- 

ed  copy  of  the  notice  of  our  grand  meeting  to  be  held  on  the  17th,  I 
send  you  one  of  each  shade.  The  regular  Society's  notice  is  printed  ou 
white  paper,  but  half  a  dozen  or  more  of  a  '  fancy '  character  were 
struck  off  to  be  sent  to  the  '  Saints.'  .  .  .  The  meeting  is  likely  to  be 
the  most  interesting  one  ever  held  by  the  Society. 

"  Yours  ever  affectionately." 

Mr.  Livermore's  fondest  expectations  concerning  the  meet- 
ing at  Mr.  Longfellow's  were  fully  realized.  There  were 
present,  among  others,  Mr.  Everett,  Judge  Shaw,  Mr.  Adams, 
Mr.  Willard,  Mr.  Richard  Frothingham,  Mr.  Paige,  and  Dr. 
Ellis,  who  severally  addressed  the  meeting.  The  President, 
Mr.  Winthrop,  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  half-past  five 


50 


MEMOIR  -OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE; 


o'clock,  and  in  bis  opening  remarks  alluded  to  the  occasion 
and  the  place,  and  also  to  the  circumstances  under  which 
General  Washington  assumed  the  command  of  the  American 
army  in  1775.  "  None  could  have  entered  this  venerable 
mansion,"  he  said,  "  without  recaUing  the  words  which  the  ac- 
complished host  once  addressed  to  a  child,  but  which  are  no  less 
adapted  to  stir  the  feelings  of  full-grown  men:  — 

"  '  Once,  all !  once,  within  these  walls, 
One  whom  memory  oft  recalls, 
The  Father  of  his  Country,  dwelt ; 
And  yonder  meadows,  broad  and  damp, 
The  fires  of  the  besieging  camp 
Encircled  with  a  burning  belt. 
Up  and  down  these  echoing  stairs. 
Heavy  with  the  weight  of  cares. 
Sounded  his  majestic  tread  : 
Yes,  within  this  very  room 
Sat  he  in  those  hours  of  gloom. 
Weary  both  in  heart  and  head.'  " 

All  his  remarks  were  excellent,  as  were  those  of  the  mem- 
bers who  followed  him.  During  the  evening  Mr.  Livermore 
exhibited  several  most  interesting  relics  associated  with 
Washington  and  his  times  ;  and  Mr.  Everett,  who  at  Mr.  Liv- 
ermore's  request  had  drawn  up  a  statement  relative  to  the 
preparation  and  delivery  of  his  celebrated  discourse  "  On  the 
Character  of  Washington,"  submitted  that  statement  to  the 
meeting.  After  the  business  was  over,  the  invitation  of  the 
host  to  partake  of  strawberries  and  cream  was  not  declined ; 
and  every  one  present  felt  that  he  had  good  reason  to  remem- 
ber "  the  17th  of  June,"  1858. 

In  1859  Mr.  Livermore  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  "  American  Unitarian  Associa- 
tion," and  he  almost  invariably  attended  its  monthly  meetings. 
In  1864  he  was  elected  Yice-President  of  the  Association, 
a  position  which  he  held  at  his  death.  Besides  giving  his 
active  personal  services,  he  was  a  liberal  contributor  to  its 
funds. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


51 


On  the  30th  of  April,  1860,  we  find  him  collecting  the  snb- 
scriptions,  which  he  had  before  solicited,  for  the  "  Quincy 
statue,"  as  the  treasurer  wishes  to  remit  the  first  instalment, 
of  two  thousand  dollars,  by  the  next  Wednesday's  steamer. 
This  refers  to  the  statue  of  President  Quincy  by  Story,  yet 
in  the  studio  of  the  artist  in  Rome. 

The  copy  of  the  "  Soldiers'  Pocket  Bible  "  belonging  to  Mr. 
Livermore,  has  been  already  referred  to.  It  was  very  rare  ;  only 
one  other  copy  was  known  to  exist,  and  that  was  in  the  British 
Museum.  He  had  for  some  time  thought  of  reprinting  it  for 
distribution  among  his  friends,  —  "  for  the  saints,"  as  he  used 
playfully  to  style  those  for  whom  he  designed  the  few  copies 
of  any  work  privately  got  up  by  him.  In  1861,  Mr.  Hough- 
ton, of  the  Riverside  Press,  printed  for  him  one  hundred 
copies,  in  fac-siinile.  He  at  the  same  time  had  ten  copies 
printed  on  parchment,  three  on  vellum,  and  two  on  India 
paper."^  It  came  from  the  press  about  the  1st  of  June. 
The  American  Tract  Society,  in  both  its  branches,  thinking 
it  would  serve  a  useful  purpose  as  a  religious  manual  for 
the  soldiers  in  our  army,  reprinted  it  in  large  numbers  as  a 
tract.  How  extensively  it  was  circulated  among  the  soldiers, 
and  how  much  good  it  accomplished,  we  have  no  means 
of  knowing.  The  book,  in  the  original,  is  a  12mo,  or  16mo, 
of  16  pages.  It  is  made  up  of  passages  from  the  Bible,  or 
rather  from  the  Old  Testament,  —  there  being  but  two  cita- 
tions from  the  New  Testament.  Those  passages  in  which 
God's  chosen  people  are  referred  to  as  fighting  God's  enemies 
are  introduced.  Cromwell's  soldiers  no  doubt  felt,  as  did  the 
Jews,  that  they  were  the  Lord's  elect"  ;  and  this  little  volume 
may  have  served  to  nerve  them  to  the  conflict.  It  may  well 
be  doubted  if  such  a  tract  would  better  the  condition  of  our 
soldiers  at  this  day,  either  morally  or  mentally ;  or  improve 
them  as  fighting  men.  Its  chief  value  now  must  be  historical. 


*  Through  Mr.  Livermore  the  attention  of  Mr.  Francis  Fry  had  been  called  to  the 
Soldiers'  Pocket  Bible,"  and  he  had  an  edition  in  facsimile  printed  in  England,  in 


52 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


In  18G2  a  reprint  of  the  "  Bay  Psalm  Book/'  consisting  of 
fifty  copies,  on  laid  paper,  was  executed  by  Mr.  Houghton, 
for  Charles  B.  Richardson,  a  bookseller  in  New  York.  Mr. 
Livermore's  name  appears  on  the  list  of  subscribers  for  one 
of  the  fifty  copies.  But  he  secured,  also,  one  copy  to  be 
struck  off  on  parchment,  —  the  only  one  printed.  There  were 
at  the  same  time  five  copies  printed  on  India  paper,  of  which 
Mr.  Livermore's  library  contains  one. 

The  proof-sheets  of  this  reprint  of  the  Bay  Psalm  Book  " 
were  revised  and  corrected  by  our  associate,  Mayor  Shurt- 
leff,  Avho,  in  his  introduction  to  the  volume,  says, —  "  In  the 
reproduction  of  this  quaint  volume,  every  word,  every  letter, 
and  indeed  every  point,  has  been  sedulously  collated  with  a 
perfect  impression  of  the  original  work  struck  at  Cambridge 
in  the  year  1640." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
at  Worcester,  in  October,  1864,  Mr.  Livermore  read  the  report 
of  the  Council.  The  principal  theme  dwelt  upon  in  this 
paper  was  suggested  by  the  recent  decease  of  Mr.  Quincy. 
He  gave  an  analysis  of  Mr.  Quincy's  writings,  and  endeavored 
to  show  that  each  of  his  works  had  been  the  product  of  his 
personal  experience  in  the  active  duties  in  which  he  had  been 
engaged  through  life.  It  was  an  admirably  conceived  and 
an  admirably  written  paper.  A  few  copies  of  the  remarks 
commemorative  of  Mr.  Quincy  were  struck  off  separately  from 
the  pamphlet  of  "  Proceedings,"  for  private  distribution. 

And  here  we  are  reminded  that,  from  the  time  Mr.  Liver- 
more  was  elected  a  member  of  our  sister  society  at  Worcester, 
he  rarely  failed  to  attend  its  meetings,  whether  held  in  that 
city  or  in  Boston.  Nothing  but  the  most  imperative  engage- 
ments ever  kept  him  away  from  the  annual  meetings,  which 
are  always  held  in  Worcester.    The  ride  through  that  beau- 

1862,  from  the  only  other  original  copy  known,  that  in  the  British  Museum.  He  also, 
the  same  year,  reproduced  in  facsimile  an  edition  of  *'  The  Christian  Soldier's  Penny 
Bible,"  from  a  copy  of  the  original  edition  in  his  possession,  dated  London,  1693, — 
a  little  manual  of  sixteen  pages. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


53 


tiful  part  of  the  State,  with  his  associates,  the  Boston  mem- 
bers, in  that  season  of  the  year  when  the  foliage  puts  on  its 
brilliant  and  varied  hue,  could  not  fail  to  have  an  attraction 
for  him  in  itself.  Then  the  warm  greeting  he  was  sure  to 
receive  at  "  Antiquarian  Hall,"  from  the  grave  and  reverend 
seigniors  there  assembled,  including  always  Governor  Lin- 
coln and  Judge  Barton,  —  ^'  not  dead,  but  gone  before  "  ;  then 
the  mental  repast  served  up  to  the  meeting  in  the  Report  of 
the  Council,  of  which  the  Librarian's  Report  —  invariably  so 
rich  in  curious  learning,  and  keen  and  wholesome  criticism  — 
always  forms  a  part ;  and,  finally,  the  elegant  hospitality  of 
the  President  of  the  Society :  to  share  all  this,  was  a  rare 
treat  to  our  friend ;  and  the  21st  of  October  was  a  red-letter 
day  in  Mr.  Livermore's  calendar. 

In  November,  1864,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  delivered 
a  lecture  before  the  "  Dowse  Institute  "  in  Cambridge,  entitled 
New  England's  Master-Key  " ;  in  the  course  of  which  he 
endeavored  to  show  what  had  been  accomplished  by  those 
who  had  devoted  their  literary  labors  to  one  special  object ; 
and  he  instanced  among  others,  as  illustrating  the  truth  of  his 
remark,  George  Livermore. 

Reference  was  made  to  Mr.  Livermore's  copartnership  with 
his  brother  Isaac,  in  1838.  The  older  brother  retired  from 
the  business  in  1846 ;  and  Mr.  Livermore,  for  the  five  fol- 
lowing years,  continued  on  in  company  with  a  nephew.  After 
remaining  alone  about  a  year,  he  was,  in  1852,  invited  to  a 
partnership  in  the  Boston  branch  of  the  extensive  wool  busi- 
ness of  Aaron  Erickson,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  which  subsisted 
until  1857,  when  the  firm  of  "  Livermore  &  Morse "  was 
formed,  which  was  dissolved  only  by  his  death. 

Mr.  Livermore  took  pride  in  his  calling  as  a  merchant,  and 
for  many  years  devoted  his  best  energies  during  the  hours 
of  business  to  its  demands.  He  was  conservative  and  cautious 
in  his  business  views,  and  was  uneasy  under  large  pecuniary 
responsibilities ;  preferring  small  gains  with  corresponding 

8 


54 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


safety  to  the  pursuit  of  larger  acquisitions  with  the  usual  at- 
tendant risks.  He  had  the  satisfaction  through  life  of  always 
meeting  his  engagements. 

The  financial  storm  which  swept  over  the  country  in  the 
autumn  of  1857,  prostrating  almost  everything  before  it,  was 
of  fearful  portent  to  our  friend.  He  felt  that  all  he  had 
was  gone,  and  that  the  only  thing  left  was  to  maintain  his 
mercantile  honor  and  credit,  which  was  done.  The  speedy 
recurrence,  three  years  later,  of  a  similar  crisis,  occasioned 
by  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion,  was  another  trial,  which 
taxed  the  highest  energies  of  every  merchant  who  had  accept- 
ances to  meet,  or  notes  to  pay.  But  when  the  government 
began  to  call  out  the  troops,  which  had  to  be  clothed  and  fed 
and  provided  with  all  the  equipments  of  war,  such  a  demand 
was  made  upon  the  raw  material  and  industry  of  the  country, 
that,  with  the  added  influence  of  the  suspension  of  specie 
payments,  and  consequent  appreciation  of  merchandise,  all 
embarrassments  were  removed,  and,  in  the  next  few  years, 
large  fortunes  were  realized  by  many.  Mr.  Livermore 
shared  in  this  success ;  and,  during  the  war,  acquired  an 
amount  of  property  such  as  previously  he  had  been  a 
stranger  to. 

On  the  actual  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion,  Mr.  Livermore 
threw  himself  into  the  cause  of  the  Union  with  all  his  charac- 
teristic energy  and  zeal.  With  him  there  was  no  temporizing, 
no  "  good  Lord  "  and  "  good  Devil."  His  trumpet  gave  no 
uncertain  sound.  He  attended  recruiting-meetings,  joined  a 
"Home  Guard,"  and  drilled  and  marched  for  miles,  at  times, 
with  a  musket  on  his  shoulder,  which,  with  his  frail  and 
delicate  frame,  was  almost  like  bearing  his  cross.  As  his 
means  enabled  him,  he  gave  freely ;  and,  throughout  the 
war,  he  poured  out  his  money  like  water  for  the  cause. 


*  In  the  second  year  of  the  war,  when  it  was  proposed  to  raise  a  fund  for  the  relief 
of  the  families  of  the  soldiers  of  Cambridge,  the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Livermore 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


55 


As  he  could  not  go  to  the  field,  he  considered  himself  bound 
to  do  in  other  ways  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  maintain  the 
integrity  of  the  Union.  One  of  his  sons  was  in  the  army,  but 
that  did  not  absolve  him  from  duty.  During  the  twelve 
months  which  preceded  his  death  he  spent  for  public  objects 
and  for  private  charities  nearly  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

Not  content  with  all  this,  when  the  discussion  arose  whether 
the  government  should  accept  colored  troops,  and  there  were 
strong  doubts  even  among  the  most  loyal  as  to  its  expediency, 
he  prepared  with  great  labor,  and  published  at  great  expense,  a 
work  of  over  two  hundred  pages,  which  he  entitled  "  An  His- 
torical Research  respecting  the  Opinions  of  the  Founders  of 
the  Republic,  on  Negroes  as  Slaves,  as  Citizens,  and  as  Sol- 
diers." The  substance  of  this  work  was  read  before  this  Soci- 
ety at  a  stated  meeting,  14th  August,  1862  ;  and  the  President 
of  the  Society,  Mr.  Wiuthrop,  has  since  said  of  it,  that  it  would 
alone  have  been  "  enough  to  secure  for  him  a  reputation 
which  any  of  us  might  envy."     His  purpose  was  to  show 


was  read  to  a  meeting  of  citizens  held  for  the  consideration  of  this  subject  at  the  City- 
Hall:— 

"  Dana  Hill,  Aug.  9,  1862. 

"  Hon.  J.  M.  S.  Williams. 

"My DEAR  Sir,  —  I  cannot  be  present  with  you,  in  person,  this  evening,  as  1  had  in- 
tended, but  you  need  not  be  told  that  my  heart  is  with  you.  The  more  I  reflect  on  the 
subject  of  the  proposed  fund  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  relief  of  the  families 
of  the  soldiers,  by  the  way  of  insurance  on  their  lives,  and  in  the  other  manner  suggested  in 
the  circular  of  the  Committee,  the  more  I  am  convinced  of  the  merit  and  excellence  of  the 
plan ;  and  I  ask  you  to  alter  my  subscription  from  five  hundred  dollars  to  one  thousand 
dollars.  To  save  the  Committee  the  trouble  of  collecting  this  amount,  I  now  enclose  a 
United-States  Treasury-note  for  the  sum,  with  interest  at  seven  and  three-tenths  per 
cent.  I  have  been  much  gratified  at  the  readiness  of  our  citizens  to  respond  to  this 
call.  The  whole  sum  of  twenty -five  thousand  dollars  will  be  made  up,  I  am  sure,  in  a 
few  days,  if  it  is  not  secured  at  the  meeting  this  evening.  When  this  subscription  is 
full,  we  must  all  be  ready  for  something  else.  Until  the  war  is  over,  we  must  dedicate 
our  time,  our  money,  our  lives,  —  and,  what  may  be  dearer  to  us  than  any  of  these,  our 
brothers  and  sons,  —  to  the  service  of  our  country.  When  we  are  thoroughly  aroused 
to  the  value  of  the  liberty  we  are  defending,  we  shall  feel  that  no  sacrifice  is  too  great 
for  us  to  make  in  its  behalf.  And  when  we  rise  to  this  point  of  patriotism,  God  will 
surely  crown  our  cause  with  complete  success. 

"  I  am,  very  truly,  yours, 

"  George  Livermore." 


56 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


that  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  regarded  the  negro  as  a 
man,  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  of  being  a  citizen ;  and 
he  saw  no  reason  why  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  do  his  part, 
side  by  side  with  his  white  brother,  in  upholding  the  flag  of 
his  country. 

"  Among  the  agencies  which  swayed  the  public  mind  at 
that  time,"  says  a  distinguished  civilian,  this  publication 
cannot  be  forgotten."  Attorney-General  Bates  acknowledged 
his  obligation  to  it  in  making  up  his  opinions  on  the  status  of 
the  negro ;  and  "  it  is  within  my  own  knowledge,"  says  Sen- 
ator Sumner, that  it  interested  President  Lincoln  much.  The 
President  expressed  a  desire  to  consult  it  while  he  was  pre- 
paring the  final  Proclamation  of  Emancipation ;  *  and,  as  his 
own  copy  was  mislaid,  he  requested  me  to  send  him  mine, 
which  I  did."  f 

This  work  was  issued  in  five  different  editions,  in  a  most 
luxurious  style ;  fifty  copies  of  two  of  the  editions  having 
been  printed  on  "  large  paper."  The  most  of  the  copies  were 
distributed  gratuitously.  The  whole  cost  of  this  work,  some 
three  or  four  thousand  dollars,  was  borne  by  Mr.  Livermore  ' 
himself.  A  pamphlet  of  eight  pages  of  extracts  from  it  was 
published  soon  after,  in  Philadelphia,  by  Henry  C.  Baird,  en- 
titled "  George  Washington  and  General  Jackson  on  Negro 
Soldiers,"  of  which  over  one  hundred  thousand  copies  were 
printed.  J 

While  declining  all  oflScial  positions,  Mr.  Livermore  was  in 
frequent  correspondence  with  leading  politicians  and  states- 
men, and  with  some  of  them  maintained  the  most  intimate 
and  confidential  relations. 


*  The  pen  with  which  Mr.  Lincoln  signed  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was 
presented  to  Mr.  Livermore  by  the  President,  and  was  treasured  among  his  cherished 
memorials. 

t  See  notice  of  "  The  Death  of  George  Livermore,"  in  the  "  Boston  Daily  Adver- 
tiser," Sept.  2,  1865. 

J  In  1864,  there  was  issued  from  the  "Riverside  Press"  of  Mr.  Houghton  the  first 
volume  of  a  new  edition  of  "The  Federalist,"  edited  by  Mr.  Henry  B.  Dawson,  of 
Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  and  dedicated  to  Mr.  Livermore  in  warm  and  flattering  terms. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


57 


The  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Livermore,  dated 
March  30th,  1863,  written  in  reply  to  one  addressed  to  him, 
containing  a  memorial  of  a  young  gentleman  of  rare  culture 
and  social  position,  who  enlisted  in  the  army  as  a  common 
soldier,  and  lost  his  life  in  the  service,  shows  the  same  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  his  country,  —  a  devotion  which  con- 
tinued to  the  last. 

"  I  never  had  the  pleasure  of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr. 

H  but  I  knew  of  his  talents,  his  genius,  his  patriotism,  and  his 

general  worth.  I  honor  his  memory  more  than  any  poor  words  at  my 
command  can  express.  I  should  value  more  the  honorable  record  of 
such  a  life,  brief  though  it  might  be,  than  the  showier  demonstrations 
which  begin  and  end  with  po]3ular  applause.  This  wicked  war,  con- 
ceived in  sin  and  slavery,  and  waged  for  the  destruction  of  national 
liberty,  —  how  costly  are  the  sacrifices  which  it  demands  !  You  and  I, 
my  dear  friend,  will  yet  have  to  make  still  greater  offerings  for  our 
country,  before  the  strife  is  ended.  But  nothing  we  have  or  are  can  be 
too  much  to  bestow,  be  it  all  our  means,  our  friends,  our  children,  and 
our  own  lives,  if  we  can  redeem  our  nation,  and  establish  it  on  the  sure 
foundation  of  Justice  and  Liberty.  The  nation  will  be  saved,  and  will 
rise  from  its  degradation  and  sorrow.  But  we  must  suffer  more  before 
the  glorious  day  shall  dawn." 

Mr.  Livermore's  constitution,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
was  feeble,  and  his  health  was  poor  through  life.  But  he 
had  a  strong  will,  which  carried  him  through  difficulties  from 
which  many  of  more  robust  constitutions  would  have  shrunk. 
During  the  winter  of  1864-65,  his  health  seemed  feebler 
than  usual.  The  issues  of  the  war,  now  rapidly  culminating, 
affected  him  intensely  ;•  and  as  the  spring  opened,  bringing 
with  it  the  joyful  events  of  the  downfall  of  Richmond  and 
the  capture  of  Lee,  so  soon  followed  by  the  terrible  tragedy 
of  the  death  of  President  Lincoln,  his  delicate  organization 
received  a  shock  almost  beyond  what  it  could  bear. 

*  This  was  Francis  Custis  Hopkinson,  of  the  Class  of  1859  of  Harvard  College. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Fortj^-fourth  Massachusetts  Infantr3\  See  "  Harvard  Memorial 
Biographies,"  ii.  21. 


58 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


A  few  days  after  the  assassination  at  Washington,  he  attend- 
ed a  meeting  of  the  Historical  Society,  and  in  some  remarks 
relative  to  that  event  enjoined  upon  the  members  the  duty  of 
self-consecration,  anew,  to  the  service  of  their  country.  He 
was  deeply  affected,  and  spoke  with  intense  feeling. 

At  the  following  meeting,  in  May,  he  was  likewise  present. 
In  the  latter  part  of  that  month  he  went  to  West  Point  on 
a  brief  visit  to  his  son.  On  Wednesday,  the  24th,  having 
returned,  he  writes  from  his  residence  on  Dana  Hill,  —  "I 
came  home  from  West  Point  on  Monday  with  a  lame  leg, 
which  is  likely  to  keep  me  a  prisoner  in  my  house  for  some 
time  ;  otherwise,  I  should  call  and  see  you."  * 

He  seemed  to  be  getting  better  during  the  few  weeks  fol- 
lowing, and  received  the  visits  of  some  of  his  friends.  He 
was  much  interested  in  the  Eulogy  on  President  Lincoln, 
pronounced  by  his  friend,  Mr.  Sumner,  on  the  1st  of  June, 
at  the  Music  Hall,  a  copy  of  which  in  print  was  furnished 
him  on  the  day  of  its  delivery,  —  the  Eulogy  having  been 
delivered  by  Mr.  Sumner  from  the  printed  sheets.  But 
towards  the  last  of  June,  he  had  a  relapse  from  which  he 
never  recovered.  On  the  28th  of  July  he  writes,  —  "I  feel 
more  comfortable  this  morning  than  I  have  done  since  my 
last  relapse,  four  weeks  ago ;  and  although  confined  to 
my  bed,  and  only  allowed  to  read  a  little  each  day,  and 
forbidden  to  see  company,  I  manage  to  maintain  my  faith 
and  patience  thus  far.  The  doctor  does  not  dream  that  I 
write.  I  would  not  ask  his  permission,  for  fear  of  being 
denied.  I  have  a  curious  and  convenient  table,  which 
projects  over  my  bed;  and  I  can,  whilst  reclining,  use 
my  pen  a  few  moments  each  day  very  comfortably.  I  thank 
you  for  your  kind  note  of  the  15th.  It  is  nearly  ten  weeks, 
now,  since  I  have  been  shut  out  from  the  active  duties  of 
life,  and  a  word  from  a  friend  is  cheering.    Although  the 


*  His  infirmity  proved  to  be  phlebitis,  or  inflammation  of  the  veins. 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


59 


doctors  say  I  must  not  see  company,  there  is  hardly  a  day 
when  I  should  not  see  you  for  a  few  moments  if  you  called, 
and  I  should  be  blest  by  the  sight."  During  a  brief  inter- 
view with  him,  three  days  after  this,  though  pale  and  much 
emaciated,  he  seemed  in  most  excellent  spirits.  He  was  full 
of  hope  and  of  gratitude.  He  probably  then  had  not  given  up 
all  thoughts  of  recovery,  and  of  being  restored  to  his  friends 
and  the  active  duties  of  life.  But  it  was  otherwise  ordered. 
Three  days  before  his  death  he  was  attacked  with  paralysis, 
and  he  died  on  the  30th  of  August. 

In  this  notice  of  Mr.  Livermore,  the  purpose  has  not  been 
to  pronounce  a  eulogy  upon  him,  but  to  state  some  of  the 
principal  facts  of  his  life,  agreeably  to  the  custom  followed 
by  the  Historical  Society  in  the  Memoirs  of  its  deceased 
members.  The  estimation  in  which  Mr.  Livermore  was  held 
in  the  community,  —  and,  indeed,  by  all  who  knew  him,  — 
and  the  great  loss  sustained  in  his  death,  were  attempted 
to  be  expressed,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Society  follow- 
ing that  event,  in  remarks  by  the  President  and  some  of  the 
associate  members,  which  were  published  in  the  "  Proceed- 
ings." Other  societies  and  associations  with  which  he  was 
connected  bore  a  united  and  willing  testimony  to  his  great 
worth.  Reference  may  also  be  made  to  an  admirable  dis- 
course, entitled  "  The  Consecrated  Life,"  preached  to  the 
Cambridgeport  Parish,  on  the  3d  of  September,  1865,  by 
the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Henry  C.  Badger ;  likewise  to  the  elo- 
quent and  appreciative  sermon,  entitled  "  The  Public  Duty 
of  a  Private  Citizen,"  preached  in  the  South  Congregational 
Church,  Boston,  on  the  same  Sunday,  by  our  associate,  the 
Rev.  Edward  E.Hale.  An  interesting  article  in  the  ''At- 
lantic Monthly"  for  November,  1865,  entitled  '' The  Visible 


*  A  beautiful  tribute  to  the  moral  and  religious  traits  of  Mr.  Livermore's  character 
Avas  at  this  time  paid  by  his  friend,  our  associate,  Mr.  Folsom,  —  now  himself  prostrated 
on  a  bed  of  sickness,  —  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Admiral  Farragut,  which  was  read  at 
the  meeting,  and  printed  in  the  "  Proceedings." 


60 


MEMOIR  OF  GEORGE  LIVERMORE. 


and  Invisible  in  Libraries,"  written  by  Mrs.  Waterston,  con- 
tains the  following  passage  in  reference  to  our  friend  and 
to  his  exquisite  library  :  — 

"The  sileut  library  of  George  Livermore  speaks  eloquently  of 
him.  That  collection,  gathered  with  a  love  which  increased  as  years 
advanced,  includes  ancient  copies  of  the  Bible  of  rarest  value.  His 
hfe  was  a  book,  written  over  with  good  deeds  and  pure  thoughts,  illu- 
minated by  holy  aspirations.  That  volume  is  closed,  but  the  spirit 
which  rendered  it  precious  is  not  withdrawn  :  living  in  many  hearts, 
it  will  continue  to  be  a  cherished  presence  in  the  world,  the  home, 
and  the  library."  * 

Nothing  could  be  added,  were  it  desired,  to  these  tributes 
to  our  loved  and  lamented  associate. 

Mr.  Livermore  left  three  sons,  his  only  children :  the  eld- 
est, Frank,  now  a  physician,  settled  in  Paris  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession ;  the  second,  William  Roscoe,  a  graduate  of 
West  Point,  in  high  standing,  connected  with  the  engineer 
department  of  the  United-States  Army;  the  third,  Charles 
Cunningham,  residing  with  his  mother  in  Cambridge. 

*  Mr.  Livermore's  residence  was  on  the  corner  of  Dana  and  Main  Streets,  on  "  Dana 
Hill,"  just  within  the  limits  of  "  Old  Cannbridoe,"  where  he  lived  for  nearly  twenty-five 
years.  A  few  years  before  his  death  he  built  an  addition  to  his  house,  of  a  library- 
room,  for  the  better  accommodation  of  his  books.  It  is  a  charming  apartment,  and 
everything  remains  just  as  he  left  it.  By  his  will,  his  library  was  bequeathed  to  his 
wife. 


i 


